BY Kunle Daramola
Tahir Mamman, minister of education, says members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) may receive half of their withheld salaries if President Bola Tinubu so approves.
The nation’s public universities have witnessed recurring disruptions in academic calendars, as members of staff take turns to protest funding deficits, poor conditions of service, and decay in infrastructure.
Last year, the president waived the “no work, no pay” policy imposed on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, after lecturers embarked on an eight-month strike.
The waiver amounted to the federal government paying four months of the withheld eight months pay of the lecturers.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, Mamman said non-academic staff were not on strike for the same duration as ASUU.
He said the issue of the withheld salaries of SSANU and NASU is under consideration, adding that “they were on strike for about four months or so. So, if they are getting payment, it is going to be half of that”.
“There is a court judgment on ‘no work, no pay’. ASUU getting four months’ pay was a discretion and decision by the president. So, it doesn’t automatically transfer to NASU and SSANU but the matter is under consideration,” he said.
“And in any case, the non-academic staff, they were not on strike for the same period with the academic staff — about four months or so. So, if they are getting payment, it is going to be half of that payment, if the president follows his precedent with the academic staff.
“I don’t think it is safe to put a time on it but it’s safer to say that we are on it and we are pushing. I believe what happened was a communication problem, it wasn’t deliberate to exclude them from that benefit.”
Mamman also said the report of the committee probing fake degrees and certificates would be submitted soon.
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