The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) says there is no going back on the strike action by the union and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) until their demands are met.
SSANU and NASU embarked on an indefinite strike on Monday over the non-payment of their four months salary arrears.
Despite calls for the unions to halt the industrial action, SSANU president Mohammed Ibrahim insists that can only happen when their demands are 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,” the SSANU chief said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“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 unions’ move has led to the crippling of activities across public universities in Nigeria with classes and other facilities shut.
In March, SSANU and NASU embarked on a seven-day warning strike – beginning March 18, 2024 – over the non-payment of their salaries.
President Bola Tinubu had directed the payment of withheld salaries for university workers owing to their strike of 2022.
That year, the unions went on an eight-month strike to press home their demands including better welfare packages. This prompted the then-administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’.
But President Tinubu last October approved the release of four of the eight months withheld salaries for ASUU members.
Months after that, SSANU and NASU downed tools – after a three-week ultimatum – and accused the Federal Government of unfulfilled promises and disdainful treatment.
In the wake of the most recent strike, the Senate labelled the move as unnecessary and called for dialogue.
According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions, Dandutse Mohammed the call for dialogue with the Federal Government is to avert further hardship and academic disruptions.
Senator Dandutse said a peaceful resolution would be a more responsible approach.