Federal universities in Nigeria would witness total shutdown of activities following the resolve by the Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU) and Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) to respectively commence a two-week warning strike.
Their counterpart, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had been on a two-month roll-over strike to compel federal government to meet its demands.
In a statement Sunday by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and NASU, the unions explained: “Having waited for too long, this is to inform you that government has not responded nor reacted to our demands as at this moment.
“In view of the nonchalant attitude of government to our demands, this is to direct our members in all the universities and inter university centres throughout the country to commence a warning strike by midnight of Sunday, March 27, 2022, in the first instance as earlier conveyed to the federal government in our letter.
“Please know that the two weeks warning strike should be comprehensive and total as no concession should be given under any guise.”
The statement jointly signed by the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim and General Secretary of NASU, Mr. Adeyemi Peters, directed all union members to adhere strictly to the industrial action, adding that it was mandatory for all branches of SSANU and NASU.
The two unions had earlier given the federal government notice of warning strike through a letter to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, dated March 16, 2022.
JAC had in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who is the Conciliator-in-Chief and dated March 16, 2022, accused the government of insincerity in its implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached with the government in October 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
The letter, signed by Ibrahim and Adeyemi, had given the federal government up till March 27th, to address its demands or face an initial two-weeks strike.
The JAC of the two non-teaching staff of SSANU and NASU in the letter titled: “Looming Industrial Action and Notice of Warning Strike,” recalled the contents of the MoU and MoA reached with the federal government on October 20th, 2020, and February 25th, 2021, respectively and concluded that the federal government has not been sincere with the implementation of the agreements
The unions further recalled the letter to the government on the same subject matter dated March 1, 2022, regretting that nothing came out of it despite the fact that JAC gave a 21-day ultimatum for the grievances of members to be addressed.
The two unions also said they are ready to present their preferred mode of payment, the University Peculiar Personnel & Payroll System (U3PS), which they said would address all the challenges unions were passing through in the payment of their salaries.
The U3PS according to Ibrahim, is a system that accommodates the peculiarities in the Nigerian university system.
“The system handles all employees’ financial records in a hassle-free, automated fashion. This includes employees’ salaries, bonuses, deductions, net pay, generation of pay-advice and other financial reports using accounting best practices ices.
“U3PS seeks to essentially automate those micro administrative tasks performed by accountant general office and bursars of federal institutions, thereby giving the office the mental bandwidth to focus on the macro,” they added.
Meanwhile, the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle challenges facing the nation’s education sector.
The group recalled the assertion made by Buhari at the 2022 convocation ceremony of the National Open University (NOUN) which took place in Abuja on March 26th.
According to a statement by Afenifere, Buhari had in a speech delivered on his behalf by the acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. David Gende, said the root-cause of crises in Nigeria could be traced to ignorance.
In his words: “It is common knowledge that the root cause of the recorded crises of nationhood we experience in Nigeria is as a result of ignorance which can only be through the provision of education.”
The group while lauding the president for acknowledging that challenges of nationhood that the country was facing could be traced to lack of proper education, however asked the federal government what it was doing about said problem.
Afenifere said: “It is on record that the education sector suffers the most under this administration. At no time in the history of the country had education been battered as much as it is under this government. In February, the Ministers of Education and Labour, Adamu Adamu and Chris Ngige, visited President Buhari in a London hospital to wish him quick recovery. The visit occurred at a time that university lecturers were on strike.
“There was no report that the education crisis that was hot then and now was discussed – let alone resolved during the visit.
“As at the time of writing this, ASUU is still on strike just as some other unions in the tertiary education sector are threatening to go on strike as well. No indication at all that the matter is of interest in any way to the government.
“How then are we to take the President’s declaration at NOUN convocation serious?”.
It, therefore, called on Buhari to use the remaining 14 months left for him in office to reverse the ugly fate that has bedeviled the country in all spheres of life.
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