Strike: Varsity Workers’ Meeting With Federal Gov’t Deadlocked

The non-academic staff unions at Nigerian public universities have announced that their strike, which began on Monday, will continue until their members receive the four months of withheld salaries.

Vice president of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Abdussobur Salaam, made this declaration after a meeting with government representatives at the Federal Ministry of Education.

“We are not suspending the strike for now; we are waiting for the ministry’s actions based on the assurances they have provided,” he stated in a phone interview with our reporter on Thursday.

Nigerian universities have been largely inactive for four days since the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and SSANU declared an indefinite strike on Sunday. This action followed the government’s failure to address their demands after several meetings and ultimatums had passed without resolution.

The strike’s impact has been minimal, as most universities are on break.

To resolve the situation, the education ministry’s leadership convened a meeting with union officials on Thursday. The meeting included outgoing Minister of State for Education Yusuf Sununu and Permanent Secretary Nasir Gwarzo, who engaged with the leaders of both unions, including NASU National President Hassan Makolo and SSANU National President Mohammed Ibrahim.

Salaam also attended the meeting and reported that Sununu assured the unions that the withheld salaries would be paid soon, though no specific timeline was provided.

He pointed out that the government had previously made similar promises that went unfulfilled.

“Therefore, the unions will wait until the withheld salaries are paid before considering any suspension of the ongoing strike,” he stated..”We are not in a rush to take their word for it until we receive confirmation that the payments have been made,”

The Nigerian government withheld salaries for university staff participating in an eight-month strike in 2022 due to a dispute with the unions.

SSANU and NASU initially struck for four months but suspended their action after appeals from the then-education minister, Adamu Adamu. However, the academic staff continued their strike for eight months until an industrial court intervened at the government’s request.

Additionally, the government implemented a “No Work, No Pay” policy, which resulted in the withholding of salaries for the duration of the strike.

In October, President Bola Tinubu directed the payment of four months’ salaries for academic staff withheld during the eight-month strike, and these payments were made in February. However, the directive did not address the non-teaching staff, which the non-academic unions deemed discriminatory and unjust.

In response, the unions have written to the government, issued ultimatums, protested, and conducted warning strikes, yet their four months of withheld salaries remain unpaid, resulting in the current strike.