“No salary, no resumption” -SSANU declares as strike continues
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has vowed to continue its industrial action, alongside the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), until its demands are met.
On Monday, October 28, 2024, SSANU and NASU commenced an indefinite strike over the non-payment of their four months salary arrears.
There have been calls from certain quarters, including student unions for the tertiary institution workers to reconsider their decision and suspend the strike.
However, despite the calls for the unions to halt the industrial action, SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim insists that can only happen when their demands are met.
Ibrahim, who spoke on Channels Television‘s Politics Today on Monday, October 28, 2024, stressed that the union is prepared to call off the strike in 24 hours if their demands were met.
“So, it’s not the issue of meeting. The issue is that we want payment and that every procedure has been followed. They can just simply direct for this payment and I assure you in less than 24 hours, we can just refer back to our principals and this strike will be suspended.
“Well, assurances are not something that we have not received before. So assurances from politicians and assurances from government officials are not new things to us. But the mandate that we have from our members is that this strike is totally indefinite and that we will only resume when we get the alerts,” the SSANU President said.
SSANU, NASU strike cripples activities
SSANU’s industrial action has crippled activities across public universities in Nigeria with classes and other facilities under lock and key.
Recall that SSANU and NASU had embarked on a seven-day warning strike starting on March 18, 2024, over the non-payment of their salaries.
President Bola Tinubu had ordered the payment of withheld salaries for university workers owing to their strike in 2022 when the unions went on an eight-month strike to press home demands, including better welfare packages.
The development prompted the Federal Government under former President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke a ‘No Work, No Pay Policy,’ a move reversed by Tinubu in October 2023.
Months later, the two unions down tools after a three-week ultimatum, accusing the Federal Government of unfulfilled promises and disdainful treatment.
Following the latest action, the Senate described the move as unnecessary and called for dialogue.
Commenting on the issue, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions, Dandutse Mohammed said the call for dialogue with the Federal Government is to avert further hardship and academic disruptions, stressing that a peaceful resolution would be a more responsible approach.
