The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has threatened to ground activities in universities across the country if the withheld salaries of its members are not paid.
This was in reaction to the exclusion of its members from the payment of the withheld salaries by the Federal Government which only commenced payment for the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Monday.
The salaries were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against ASUU and SSANU who embarked on a strike that lasted eight months in 2022.
However, President Bola Tinubu, in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight months ASUU’s withheld salaries.
National President of SSANU, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, complained bitterly about the union’s exclusion from the payment of the withheld salaries.
He insisted that it was a great injustice against SSANU, saying the union was in no way angry that ASUU was paid but it deserved to be paid too.
Ibrahim said, “This is just terrible, we found out that only ASUU’s payment was approved. As it is, there is tension on all the campuses we are not angry that they are paying ASUU, but they should know that it is not only ASUU that went on strike.
Why should our case be different? The government should pay everyone who works in the university. We can’t guarantee continuous peace in our universities. We have written to the Chief of Staff and Minister of Education and we escalated it to Nigeria Labour Congress. There is a palpable danger if SSANU are not paid their backlog.”
He hinted that SSANU members would meet today Tuesday to take a decision on the development.
SSANU Threatens To Ground Academic Activities Nationwide Over Withheld Salaries
