Richard Ginika Izuora
Government run universities in Nigeria may not open after resumption of academic session was announced by government following advice by the Presidential Task Force, PTF, on COVID-19.
This is due to warning by the Joint Action Committee of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) that they will commence a 14-day warning strike from October 5 to October 19.
A statement jointly signed by the National President, SSANU, Samson Ugwoke, and General Secretary, NASU, Peter Adeyemi, said the strike was premised on the inconsistencies of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System in the payment of salaries and the non-payment of Earned Allowances to members.
Some other issues mentioned in the statement were, “non-payment of national minimum wage and retirement benefits to our members. The delay in the renegotiation of FGN/NASU and SSANU Agreements, as well as the non-payment of benefits to retired members, teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units and neglect and poor funding of state universities.”
“Please note that this warning strike is a prelude to a full blown total and indefinite industrial action if the grievances highlighted above are not properly addressed,” the statement added.
While addressing journalists after a joint congress in front of the University of Lagos Senate building on Friday, the branch chairmen of UNILAG chapters of SSANU and NASU, Olusola Sowunmi and Kehinde Ajibade, said they were now rejecting IPPIS because the government promised to take care of the peculiarities of the university system, but failed to do so.
Sowunmi said, “We are disappointed with the turnout of things. The IPPIS failed to meet our expectations and our retired members are not being paid as and when due. Also, we are not being paid the new minimum wage that other agencies of government have been enjoying. The new wage is a matter of law as it was an act of parliament.”
Ajibade said if the government could find means of paying other workers the new minimum wage, it should also pay them.
He said, “Just as the government has given schools notice of resumption, our national leadership also gave us the notice to announce this warning strike over a month ago. After the two weeks, if nothing is done to address our concerns, we will meet and deliberate on the next line of action.