The two-week warning strike of the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions which started on Monday recorded total compliance across all universities in the country.
A letter signed last Friday by the JAC said the President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim; and NASU’s General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, gave the order for a two-week warning strike which commenced on midnight of March 27.
Ibrahim, in an interview with our correspondent, said his team monitored all universities across the nation and he was satisfied that union members complied with the strike order.
He said, “There is total compliance, I have pictures of all the campuses. The University of Lagos especially, had total compliance, no water, no electricity. This is what we have been saying, you cannot keep people as members of staff and deny them their entitlement and expect them to continue to serve you. You go to the clinics, gate, bursary, hostels it is our people that are there.”
A visit to some of these universities showed that activities were grounded.
For instance, at the UNILAG, there was no activity; everywhere was calm on the campus as a source revealed that there was no electricity and water supply.
Likewise, the University of Abuja on Monday recorded power outage and cut in water supply due to the strike.
UNIABUJA JAC emphasised that if at the end of the two weeks, the government did not respond, members would commence a total strike.
However, Ibrahim said some of the items in the agreement JAC signed with the FG are the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment of earned allowances, usurpation of non-academic career positions by vice-chancellors, inclusion of university staff school into the university community, non-payment of minimum wage arrears, and funding of state universities.
He appealed to the Federal Government to fulfill its promises to the unions.
He said, “We have met with them with timelines; we have been pushed to the wall.
“We are appealing to spirited Nigerians to appeal to the FG to live up to its expectations, its promises, we had an agreement in 2009, this is 13 years after, less than half of the demands have been implemented even those implemented are not forthcoming and still nothing is being done. Just promises, we have been pushed to the wall, we expect that government will see a reason to pay our people their entitlements and implement all the agreements we have reached with.” Continue Reading
