The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have again threatened to withdraw their services if the government does not pay them their four months withheld salaries within a week.
The two unions, which form the Joint Action Committee (JAC), said they were excluded from the payment of the salaries that President Bola Tinubu approved for all staff of public universities following a strike that lasted nine months.
The JAC said it was unfair and unjust that their colleagues in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had received their salaries, while they were still waiting for theirs.
The JAC leaders, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim of SSANU and Comrade Peters Adeyemi of NASU, addressed a press yesterday in Abuja where they expressed their frustration and dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the issue.
They said they had reached out to the minister of education, who assured them that the President’s approval was for all workers in the public universities, especially the ones in the federal universities.
However, they said they had not seen any evidence of the payment, and that they were running out of patience.
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Both SSANU and NASU had on Friday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government to pay them their withheld salaries, like ASUU members were paid.
They said the delay in the payment of their salaries had caused them a lot of hardship and suffering, as many of their members had died, been evicted from their homes or unable to pay their children’s school fees.
They called on the chief of staff to the president, the minister of finance, the accountant-general of the federation, and all other relevant authorities to intervene and release their salaries without further delay.
They also accused the government of breaching the agreements it signed with them, under the supervision of the then minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige.
They further stated that they would not hesitate to embark on another strike if their demands were not met within a week.
