Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) staged nationwide protests on Tuesday across public university campuses to demand the immediate release of their withheld salaries.
One of our correspondents observed non-academic staff members carrying placards at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State. The protestors marched around the campus, urging the Federal Government to release their withheld salaries and address their other outstanding demands.
At the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in Imo State, our correspondent noted that discontented workers marched around the university community to emphasize their demands.
SSANU and NASU members at the University of Ilorin in Kwara State also participated in the protest, calling on political leaders to reduce governance costs and cut down their opulent lifestyles to meet the workers’ financial demands.
After holding a congress, leaders and members of the two unions rallied across the university campus, expressing frustration that the Federal Government has not met their demands since 2009.
To prevent a complete breakdown of university education nationwide, the leaders urged the government to expedite the implementation of their demands.
The situation was reported to be similar at the University of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other public universities across the country.
Protracted Imbroglio
NASU National President Makolo Hassan stated on Monday that there would be no backing down from Tuesday’s demonstrations, as both unions claimed that the Federal Government had failed to address their demands following a warning strike several months ago.
Tuesday’s protests followed the expiration of a two-week ultimatum given by NASU and SSANU to the Federal Government in June.
In March, SSANU and NASU members had embarked on a one-week warning strike to protest the Federal Government’s withholding of their salaries for eight months. During the strike, administrative activities in public universities across Nigeria came to a halt, with hostels and university gates locked and electricity supply cut off by disgruntled non-academic staff.
The two unions criticized the Federal Government for paying withheld salaries to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while neglecting the non-academic unions.
All the unions had engaged in an eight-month strike in 2022 to press for a better welfare package, leading the administration of then-President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy against them. However, last October, President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four months’ withheld salaries to ASUU members.
SSANU and NASU accused the Federal Government of unfair treatment and discrimination by not paying them like their academic counterparts.
Education Minister Tahir Mamman had attributed the non-payment of SSANU and NASU members to a “communication problem” and insisted that there was no discrimination against them. He stated that non-academic staff members would receive half of their withheld salaries upon the President’s approval, but SSANU and NASU members reported that they had not received any payment three months after the minister’s promise.