Striking varsity workers to receive withheld salaries Thursday

Striking members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) will receive   50 percent of their four-month withheld salaries this week.

 Minister of State for Labour and Employment  Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who gave the assurance on Monday,   that President Bola Tinubu directed the payment in July.

Onyejeocha also disabused the minds of the unions’ leaderships that the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun  withheld the payment.

The leaderships of both unions under the Joint Action Congress (JAC) issued the strike directive on Sunday via a circular by NASU Secretary-General Adeyemi Peters and SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim to the chairmen of their branches nationwide.

 Their primary goal is to press for the payment of the salaries owed to them since 2022 by the government.

However, SSANU National President Mohammed Ibrahim and NASU General-Secretary Peters Adeyemi expressed hope for an end to the strike, saying activities on the campuses would resume once the government fulfilled its promise.

Onyejeocha had said: “The President approved that they should be paid since July. The minister of finance is facilitating the instrument. He said he will pay them before the end of the month.

“The minister said he is on it. He has assured that they will get the payment before the end of the month.”

SSANU  National President  Ibrahim said his members were surprised that nothing had been done by the government after  President   Tinubu approved the  50   payment.  

 ‘’If payment is made, we don’t have to meet. We will call off the strike,’’ Ibrahim promised during a national television programme.

He added: “ The economy is harsh. Our members are going through a lot. To commute to work is tough. The price of petrol and other logistics are so high.

“  All of us working in the universities are not happy to see this situation happen. We had severally called the attention of those in charge of our governance to understand that our universities are in their states.

‘’We extended our patience by two weeks, then another month. Three months passed, yet the payment remained unpaid.

“So, we had exhausted all avenues of trying to pacify our members.”

 Ibrahim lamented the disparity between academic and non-academic staff of the universities.

 He pointed out that while academic staff members were paid 100 percent of their withheld four –month salaries early this year, the non- workers were left out.