Non-teaching staffs at Nigeria’s public universities are still on strike over unpaid salaries, even after discussions with the Federal Government.
Despite recent meetings aimed at reaching a resolution, members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) insist that they won’t return to work until their overdue salaries are paid.
This strike began after the workers, frustrated by unmet promises, halted work indefinitely to press for four months’ worth of unpaid wages.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC), which represents both NASU and SSANU, started the indefinite strike earlier this week following delays from the government to release their due payment. The union had issued an ultimatum to the government to resolve the issue, but with no response, the strike went ahead.
Even though President Bola Tinubu approved a partial payment of 50% of the outstanding wages, workers are yet to receive any funds. This delay has only deepened their resolve to continue the strike until they see proof of payment in their accounts.
In a bid to break the stalemate, government officials met with union leaders on October 31. The Minister of Education attended the meeting virtually, while the outgoing Minister of State for Education was physically present.
During this meeting, the government attempted to reassure the unions, stating that it had obtained a commitment from the Ministry of Finance to release the funds by the end of the month.
Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, President of SSANU, commented on the discussions, calling them “very cordial, very fruitful, very frank.” He explained to VANGUARD that although the government is making efforts to release funds, the workers are still waiting for actual proof.
Ibrahim said: “The conversation was very cordial, very fruitful, very frank. So like I said, it was chaired by the outgoing Minister of State for Education at the instance of the Minister of Education, who joined the meeting virtually.
“So, they related the position of government that they have extracted commitment from the Minister of Finance that the payment will be made.”
Asked when the government promised to make the payment, he said: “They said before the end of the month. Today (yesterday) is 31st, so, we are still on 31st and we told them that until then, the mandate we have from our people is that we can only suspend when the money is paid.
“Remember, so many other promises were made before and so that’s our position. So we left on a very cordial note. There was this clear understanding that we’re waiting for payments, we can only suspend until we get the payment.”
On whether the government made any attempt to persuade them to suspend the strike, Ibrahim said: “What will they say? They will not say anything new.
“There were a lot of persuasions but like I told you, we went there with the mandate of our people, and the mandate given to us was that we must make sure we get the payment because there is already an approval.
‘’It’s not something that has not been approved. There’s an approval of the President. So, it’s the release that is the problem.
’If the President has approved, those in charge should be able to release the money and they promised to release it. Since they did not say they will not release the money, we said okay, until then.”
