By Cross Udo, Abuja
Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) said it would hold an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting within the week over the exclusion of the union in the payment of four months of withheld salaries as approved by President Bola Tinubu.
The association also frowned at the Federal Government’s decision to single out the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for the payment of the withheld salaries, describing the action of the government as a time bomb that would explode soon.
National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, who disclosed this yesterday, lamented that the action of the government has brought serious pressure on his leadership as members of the association have been reacting angrily over their exclusion.
Recall that President Tinubu had recently granted amnesty to university workers to the effect that four months of their withheld salaries as a result of the revocation of the “No work, no pay” policy should be paid.
The four university-based unions, SSANU, ASUU, the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022.
The SSANU President while reacting to the development, described the selective payment as provocative and an invitation to industrial crisis.
He said, “Governments should address things with utmost seriousness, and with sincerity, but I’m telling you, there is a time bomb that will explode any moment in the university campuses.
“This denial of non-payment of the backlog to the non-teaching staff. No public university will operate this I can assure you and we have drawn the attention of the government, they should be held liable.
“No University, no public university can operate without the payment to the non-teaching staff. This we can assure you we’re not a violent group of people. But when you push us to the wall we’ll have to react.
“I think this is most unfortunate and most uncharitable and members of SSANU and I believe by extension, other non-teaching staff unions will make a statement this time around not only to the press, but clearly on the streets of Abuja, to the office of the accountant general, to the presidency and anywhere we feel we should go and fight for our rights, because this is unwarranted This is inhuman, and this is unprecedented.
“We cannot accept that we are not slaves in Nigeria. We are not slaves, we cannot be anybody’s slaves. And therefore, the law should run its course for everybody. If it is the President says they should pay everybody you should run across.”
While ASUU was on strike for about eight months, the other unions stayed for about five months.
However, the information that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has started paying ASUU the exclusion of the other unions is generating tension in the universities
On the threat to mobilise members against the government over his claims that teaching staff has been paid without the inclusion of non-teaching staff, he said, “It’s not a claim, we have facts. They are our colleagues, we work in the same environment. We have seen their alerts they have shown us they are celebrating it. So it is not a claim.
“The protests we are going to have shall be sanctioned by the National Executive Council. The National Administrative Committee will meet either today or tomorrow. Then we will fix a date for an emergency NEC and NEC will decide when that will happen. And I assure you it will not be too long from now.”
Asked whether the NEC meeting will take place within the week, Ibrahim said, “We will not rule out anything. NEC will decide that.”
