Barely a decade that the Senor Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) branch of UNILAG did not have substantive officers duly elected due to litigations, the senior academic body of workers has finally elected new officers into different roles according to the law.
LEADERSHIP Weekend checks showed that members of SSANU from the federal university, on Thursday, voted in a civic exercise that lasted from morning till 2pm.
The results announced by the chairman, SSANU UNILAG Branch Credentials Committee, declared Comrade Ademola Rasak Yusuf as the chairman, Comrade Mojisola Monsurat Adebayo emerged as the vice chairman, Dr Oluwasanmi Akinyera – secretary, Comrade Ismaila Idowu Raji – treasurer, Comrade Amaechi Romanus – financial secretary and Comrade Olaotan as the assistant secretary.
The election exercise was monitored by national executives of SSANU led by the vice president, South West, Dr Abdussobur Salaam.
Salaam who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend noted that UNILAG has faced protracted battles that had to be settled in court and therefore had officers for years in acting capacity.
Salaam, a senior staff and deputy registrar of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), said the election reflected that the UNILAG branch of SSANU was ready to have a peaceful union.
He observed that the federal government had not honoured the 2019 agreement it has with the union and has continually undermined the power of SSANU at all levels.
He added that the remuneration of members of SSANU is grossly poor and undeserving and if the members of the body consisting of senior officers of the non-teaching staff of public universities across the country were paid commensurate to their counterparts in South Africa and other African countries, there would not be a brain drain in Nigeria.
“SSANU being the largest union in federal and state universities have been undermined by both the federal and state government.
The medical doctors and nurses in the varsity medical centres are members of SSANU as well as the registrars, bursars, head of security, utility department head like that of electricity, works and water supply and this is why SSANU doesn’t hurt go on strike as this would ground the universities to a halt.
“I want to categorically say that if SSANU members are well paid, there would be no brain drain. But since the advent of sustained democratic government in 1999, no government has fully addressed the problems and challenges of SSANU which boils down to funding, development and maintenance of infrastructure in the universities and training and remuneration. Instead, what we see is the creation of new universities by the federal and state government and neglect of the old ones,” he said.
