The National President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, in a message on Tuesday, told our correspondent:

“They invited us for a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday),” Ibrahim said in a terse message sent to our correspondent.

SSANU and NASU commenced a seven-day nationwide strike on Monday to protest the refusal of the Federal Government to release their four-month salaries withheld by the Federal Government in 2021 because they embarked on a strike.

The government of then President Muhammadu Buhari withheld the salaries, insisting on the principle of ‘No work; no pay’.

However, the current administration of President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of the withheld salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, who were also affected by the past administration’s ‘no work; no pay’stance.

SSANU and NASU were, however, displeased to be left out.

They wrote to the Tinubu government, asking that their withheld salaries be equally released.

The government, however, ignored the repeated demands, following which the two unions embarked on a strike.

The seven-day warning strike, which began on Monday, grounded academic activities on university campuses across the country.

Last Monday, the unions threatened to shut down hostels and power supply in universities across the country if the Federal Government fails to meet its demands before today, March 18, 2024.

National President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, said his members, including Vice Chancellors, registrars, and bursars, have not been paid 2022 arrears.

On Sunday, Ibrahim said that the two unions were set for their nationwide strike.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman,stated that he was unaware of SSANU/NASU’s planned strike.

However, during the Channels Television’s Morning Show programme, Ibrahim declared that the strike had started.

“Definitely, it (the strike) has already started.

As of today (Monday), all our workers in registry, bursary, works and maintenance, security, and students’ affairs have withdrawn their services and nothing moves within the administration of any public university in Nigeria and that will be the case for the next seven days until and unless the needful is done,” he stated.

The SSANU president stressed that no government representative has reached out to the non-academic unions, noting that though some have reached out unofficially, their assurances cannot be taken to the bank.

He wondered why some government officials would not fully comply with President Bola Tinubu’s instruction to pay 2022 arrears.

He added that the Minister of Labour , Nkiruka Onyejeocha, has not reached out to the aggrieved unions despite issuing a seven-day notice last Monday.

This, he said was a departure from the responsiveness of the ex-Labour Minister Chris Ngige.

He stressed that the unions would go back to their toolbox and decide the next line of action should the government fail to heed the unions’ demands after the seven-day warning strike, which commenced today.

The unions said the declaration was made to demand the payment of four months of withheld salaries of their members by the Federal Government after the 2022 nationwide strike.

This followed the resolution of the joint action committee of the two unions after a meeting held in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Saturday and Sunday.

ASUU and other university union had embarked on strike at different times, demanding improved working condition and development of the nation’s tertiary education.

While SSANU and its sister union, the Non-Academic Staff Union suspended the strike in August, ASUU, on the other hand suspended its eight-month strike in October after the ruling of the National Industrial Court and the Appeal court.

However, the Federal Government only paid the lecturers for 18 working days in the month of October, while SSANU members were also not paid for the four months they were on strike, insisting they would not be paid for work not done.

However, ASUU had on Monday began protests across the country to press home their demand for full pay.

Speaking in an interview, SSANU National President, Muhammed Ibrahim, said the union followed the due process of embarking on strike which rendered the no work, no pay policy of the government as illegal.

He said, “For the four months that we were legally on strike, our money has not been paid. Government should do the needful because our strike followed all due processes. We notified the government before going on strike and therefore, there was no reason for the government to withhold our salaries.I urge the Federal Government to do the needful by ensuring that they release the withheld salaries of all university workers because the strike was forced on the staff by the government’s refusal to respect the 2009 agreement. The strike was borne out of the frustration of members.If they are claiming the policy of “no work no pay”, we are saying that labour laws say that members of staff have the right to embark on strike where their employers have infringed on their rights. Before you embark on strike, there are processes and procedures that you need to follow which SSANU has religiously followed.”

On her part, the ASUU Chairperson, University of Uyo, Happiness Uduk, said the Federal Government should be responsible for meeting the demands of the union, stressing that the labour law provided that workers should not be intimidated over strike actions.

She added that due to the refusal of the government to pay salaries, lecturers had been struggling to meet their obligations due to increase in prices of commodities, including transportation.

She said, “We were all shocked at the first week of this month when the government paid prorated salary. According to them, we were only been paid for the number of days which we worked, making it seem as if we are casual workers. Meanwhile, on our letters of appointment, if you check through, you will find out that nobody was employed as a casual worker, which means nobody should be paid daily.

“The current situation is that people are hungry and then as law abiding citizens we decided as a union to obey the ruling of the National Industrial Court; we have resumed work, yet the government is creating disharmony and disaffection.’’

Our correspondent gathered that this was discussed during the meeting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and ASUU’s executive on Monday.

the issues surrounding the deployment of UTAS and UP3S formed part of the reasons why the lecturers and non-academic staff downed tools.

The university workers had blamed inconsistencies and the failure of the IPPIS to capture the peculiarities of the university system for their rejection.

“The lecturers were told that the IPPIS will be modified to accommodate the peculiarities of UTAS. It will be too expensive to run two payment platforms concurrently”, a source who did not want his name in print explained.

members of the National Executive Council of ASUU will meet on Thursday to take a formal stance on the eight-month-old strike.

The committee’s Chairman, Yusuf Ali (SAN), disclosed this to one of our correspondents while commenting on the 35% increase for professors and 23.5%  for other university workers, including lecturers.

Ali said this just as the President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim rejected the pay rise proposed by the government.

The strike embarked upon by ASUU over demands including the revitalisation funds, opposition to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and insistence on the implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution developed by the union entered its 207th day on Wednesday.

At a meeting with vice-chancellors, pro-chancellors and chairmen of Governing Councils of federal universities in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the Federal Government could only afford a 23.5%  increase for university lecturers and 35%  for professors.

In the interview with The PUNCH, Ali said the decision of the Federal Government was not binding on state universities.

He noted that any move to force state governments to follow the same agreement would lead to a “bastardisation of federalism.”

He explained that state universities run under different employers.

Ali said, “We held a conference and the resolutions will soon be made available and sent to all the governors. We are not part of the negotiations, so whatever negotiations the Federal Government makes with its employees will not be binding on state universities. They are our employees and that is part of the bastardisation of federalism.

“For instance, do policies made in your media house bind on other media houses? That is the way it is meant to be. The Federal Government has its employees and the states have theirs. The government may set a minimum standard and people may decide on whatever it is they want to do for their workers.

Our position is that we are not bound by an agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU. They are dealing with their employees.”

The SSANU boss also said the union rejected the offer.

He said, “The government said it recommended a new salary table with the 23.5% increment. It is different from something approved. Our people asked for a 700%   increment in line with the current economic reality in the country.

“We checked the last time salary was reviewed, it was 2009. We considered the dollar exchange rate, economy, inflation, and market value since then and now and we arrived at the 700%  increment. When they told us, we humbly rejected it and told them they could do better because 23.5% will not make any significant improvement on our members. Look at the tax deductions, and pension contributions, if you add all these and subtract them from 23.5%, what will be left is 3%. We have replied the government that they can do better, we don’t want the 23.5 %”

Meanwhile, National President of the National Association of Academic Technologists, Ibeji Nwokoma, said the government had already given them a 23.5% increment, saying it was accepted in the interim.

“We agreed that if peradventure, ASUU didn’t suspend the strike and anything given in the upward of 23.5%  will be across the board. We will resist everything that will bring disparity in salary. They told us if we called off our strike in August, they will implement it by September 1, 2022,” Nwokoma said.

Also reacting, a professor of African Traditional Religion and Director, School of Part-Time Studies, Lagos State University, Ojo, Danoye Oguntola-Laguda, said historically, whatever ASUU negotiated with the FG was usually implemented at state levels.

However, on its part, the Benue State Government also said state governments were not part of the decision.

The state Commissioner for Education, Sarwuan Tarnongo, said, “The Federal government is talking about its universities and state governments were not involved in negotiations.”

When asked to react to the new policy, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, said, “I don’t have any concrete document to that effect. We were just hearing it, there is no document or any confirmation to support that.”

Also, the ASUU chairman, Benue State University chapter, Dr Tarnongu Kwaghfan, said state governments, whether they like it or not, must implement any salary increment approved by the union and Federal Government.

Kwaghfan said any state government that desired to have universities must pay any agreed salary by the union and Federal Government.

Similarly, ASUU chairman, Kwara State University chapter, Dr Salau Sheu said, “Limiting the salary increment to only lecturers in federal universities will not only lead to an exodus of lecturers from state universities to federal universities but will also affect the quality of lecture and certificate that will be issued to students who graduated from state universities.”

The Chairman of ASUU at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Dr Biodun Faniran, said two representatives of state universities were on the team that negotiated the salary increase.

He said, “They have representatives on the team. Zubairu Iliyasu, a professor and Pro-Chancellor, Kano State University of Science and Technology and Matthew Seiyefa, Pro-Chancellor, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island were part of the team.

“The increment is binding on state universities. When we get to the bridge we shall cross it.”

They also said they were still awaiting official communication from the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, days after the President Buhari directed the minister and other government officials to resolve the ongoing strike by the unions.

NLC had last week announced that it would embark on a joint protest with other affiliate unions to protest the lingering strike of university workers in the country since February 14, 2022.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had however declared the planned protest illegal while his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige, claimed that a report by the Department of State Services had warned against protest.

The National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, explained that the protest would go on as planned, adding that the government had yet to meet any of their demands.

“We have not heard anything from the FG and no formal invitation from them. All they have been saying was that the planned protest is illegal. They don’t want to do what they are supposed to do,” he said.

Also, the National President, SSANU, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, said, “I have not been contacted and my union has not been contacted, as I speak to you we are still expectant that they will speak to us but the protest will still go on

The protest is an expression of our feelings on how we are being treated. Today is the 128th day of our strike. All universities have been shut, but their children are in private schools and abroad. So, what do you expect from them?”

When asked in a separate interview if Adamu had reached out to ASUU after last week’s presidential directive to ensure the issues around the strike are resolved, Osodeke said, “We spoke and it was agreed that we would meet, but we are still awaiting official communication as regards that.”

When contacted, the Ministry of Education’s spokesperson, Ben Goong, said, “There is a presidential directive and that will be followed to the letter.”

The strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities entered its 140th day on Monday (today), while the strike declared by the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and other Allied Institutions, which began on March 25, 2022 also entered the 68th day today.

While the National Executive Council of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics is currently meeting in Jigawa State after calling off a two-week warning strike, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union just commenced a two-month strike.

In a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, noted that the government’s failure to meet ASUU’s demands, implement the agreement it had with the union and satisfactorily resolve the issues, has kept poor Nigerian children at home while the children of the country’s politicians attend private schools.

Oluwadare said, “Inequalities in education have a rolling effect, leading to even more and continued inequalities in the future.

“Apart from being a right in itself, the right to education is also an enabling right. Education creates the voice through which rights can be claimed and protected, and without education, people lack the capacity to achieve valuable functioning as part of the living.

“If people have access to education, they can develop the skills, capacity and confidence to secure other rights. Education gives people the ability to access information detailing the range of rights that they hold together with the government’s obligations.”

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, faulted the silence of critical stakeholders on the academic shutdown.

Oluwatoyin said, “It is saddening that the government has continued to allow negotiations to linger with no concrete end in sight. The Presidency must, as a matter of urgency, take over the negotiations with the unions.”

Also, the co-Convener, Education Rights Campaign, Michael Lenin, said, “The blame for these strike actions that have grounded tertiary education must be placed at the door-step of the government.

“It is quite unprecedented that all the major unions in the tertiary education sector are all on strike; however, it shows the level of damage that the negligence of successive governments has done to the educational sector through chronic under-funding.”

Efforts to get the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who has described himself as the reconciliation minister between the Federal Government and the unions, proved abortive as calls and texts sent to his telephone number on Sunday remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.

When contacted, the National President, ASUP, Dr. Anderson Ezeibe, noted that the union’s National Executive Council would commence its meeting on Tuesday.

“Our NEC is commencing meeting on Tuesday, if we are still not satisfied with the level of implementation of demands so far, a strike may be declared,” he said.

The Federal Government renegotiation committee, chaired by Pro-Chancellor of Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Prof. Nimi Briggs, is expected to review the draft proposed 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and renegotiate with all the striking university unions.

Since April 2022, the Briggs renegotiation committee had been meeting with the unions in the universities who are all currently on strike due to unmet demands of the 2009 agreements signed with the FG.

National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke in an interview with our correspondent said the Prof. Nimi Briggs Committee told the union they were waiting for the Federal Government to respond to the reports of the meeting they had so far.

Yes, we had a meeting with them last week and they have not called us again. All they told us was that they are waiting for their principal, that when their principal responds, they will get back to us,’’ he said.

Osodeke said they had not gotten invitation for another meeting. But lamented that this was the situation since May 2021, ‘‘The same way they told us they were waiting for the FG in May 2021 and yet no result.’’

Similarly, the national president, SSANU, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, whose union had a meeting with the renegotiation Committee last week Friday said all that was done were appraisals and reviews, adding that the Briggs committee said they were waiting for their ‘masters’ to respond.

They told us they are waiting for their ‘masters’ we reviewed the meeting and they promised to get back to us when their principal responds. So we are waiting. The strike is still on.’’

Mohammed also said there were erroneous pieces of information on social media that the results of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution and University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System, had been released.

He added that NITDA had only concluded the test on UTAS and U3PS but no result was announced.

Mohammed revealed that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System test was ongoing.

The IPPIS was described as a problematic payment platform by the unions in the higher institutions who all complained bitterly about its inconsistency and alleged it was an imported fraudulent platform.

As such, due to IPPIS’ irregularities and short-changing of salaries, ASUU and SSANU created indigenous payment platforms, namely, UTAS and U3PS respectively.

Mohammed said, ‘‘The results of the payment platforms as being rumored are not yet out. The committee has finished the UTAS and UP3 tests and they are now on IPPIS.

The PUNCH had reported that SSANU’s strike started with a warning strike of two weeks which commenced on the midnight of Sunday 27th March 2021, while the extension of another two weeks commenced on Sunday 10th April 2022 and it is still ongoing.

Some of the demands of SSANU include the inconsistent issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system, unpaid earned allowances, and delay in the renegotiation of FGN, NASU, SSANU agreements, and non-payment of minimum wage arrears.

Others include neglect and poor funding of state universities, non-payment of retirement benefits to outgoing members of the unions, and usurpation of the headship of non-teaching units in clear violation of conditions of service and establishment procedures, among others.

ASUU commenced its ongoing strike on February 14,  2022, after the Federal Government refused to meet some of its demands including, the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the UTAS payment platform for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers.

The union gave the advice in a communique issued on Friday after its zonal meeting in Maiduguri. The communique was read by its National Vice President, North East, Abdulkadir Isa.

The communique, which called on all levels of government to invest massively in education, said the neglect and poor funding of universities by some governors to the detriment of teaching and research was a matter that required urgent attention.

It condemned what it described as the provocative formula used for sharing the N22.1 billion released by the Federal Government for Earned Allowances at the rate of 75 per cent for teaching staff and 25 per cent for non-teaching staff, calling for a review.

The communique said “The union is concerned that the non-teaching units of the universities are being usurped by teaching staff in violation of the condition of service and establishment procedures. Pending cases of earned allowances, the union noted that both federal and state governments still owe the arrears of earned allowances derived from the federal government/SSANU 2009 agreement. We demand the full payment and implementation of same in staff monthly salaries. We are against the forceful retirement of our members at the age of 60 in violation of 65 years agreement in state universities,”

It also raised concern over insecurity and inflation in the nation, calling for urgent measures to address them, adding that there is a need for legislation to be made to include representatives of unions in the university governing council.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National President of the SSANU, Mohammed Haruna, alongside other officials from universities in the North East region also attended the meeting.