NASU Set For Nationwide Protest After 3 Months Into Strike
The non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities have declared their intentions for a nationwide protest after 3 months since embarking on nationwide strike.
The non-teaching staff comprise of three main unions including: Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non Academic Staff Union of Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association Academic Technologists (NAAT).
The three non-teaching staff unions under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) have been on strike since December 4, 2017 over failure by government to implement the agreement signed by both parties in September 2017 as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the unions and government in February 2017.
Presently, the bone of contention is the N23 billion Earned Allowances which the Federal Government released to the four university-based unions after reconciliatory meeting midwifed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.
The disgruntled members of the unions are accusing the government of violating an agreement it had with them on the formula for sharing the N23 billion it released to the universities as earned allowances.
The unions are angry that the sharing formula favoured the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the union reportedly took the lion share of the allowances.
Consequently, they will be displaying their grievances openly on March 8, with the protest tagged “peaceful rally”.
This disclosure was made by the spokesperson of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Abdussobur Salaam, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.
According to him, the rally will start at the Unity fountain, Abuja, move to the federal Ministry of Education and then to the National Assembly.
He said the union will be seeking audience with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on how to resolve the lingering crisis.
Meanwhile, there are claims that the federal government has concluded plans to invoke the no work, no pay policy despite efforts by the Senate to mediate in the industrial face-off.
