TheCable

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) have declared a two-week warning strike.

The unions had earlier threatened to embark on a warning strike if the federal government fails to meet its demands by March 27.

In a memo addressed to their branches on Friday, the unions asked their members to proceed on the warning strike from Monday.

According to the memo signed by Mohammed Ibrahim, SSANU president, and Peter Adeyemi, NASU general secretary, the unions said they resorted to strike due to the “nonchalant attitude” of the federal government to their demands.

They said the warning strike must be comprehensive and directed members to ensure strict compliance.

“In view of the nonchalant attitude of the government to our demands, this is to direct our members in all universities and inter-university centres throughout the country to commence a two-week strike by midnight of Sunday, 27 March, 2022, in the first instance as earlier conveyed to the federal government in our letter,” the memo reads.

“Please note that the two-week warning strike should be comprehensive and total as no concession should be given under any guise.

“Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all branches of NASU and SSANU in the universities and inter-university centres.”

Some of the issues raised by the unions include “inconsistencies in IPPIS payment, non-payment of earned allowances, delay in the renegotiation of FGN/NASU and SSANU 2009 agreement, and non-payment of retirement benefits”.

Others are “neglect and poor funding of universities, as well as non-constitution of visitation panels for tertiary institutions”.

Meanwhile, the strike by NASU and SSANU comes after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) extended its earlier warning strike by eight weeks.

ASUU took the decision on March 14 after a meeting of the union’s national executive council (NEC) at its University of Abuja secretariat.

Before ASUU embarked on its earlier one-month warning strike on February 14, the union had accused the federal government of reneging on the agreements reached to suspend its last industrial action in 2020.

ASUU also said the decision to embark on the strike was over the government’s attitude on the renegotiation of salaries and allowances, as well as the issues raised over adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.