The Ahmadu Bello University Chapter of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has explained why it disregarded a directive from its national headquarters, requesting members to stage a public protest with respect to the sharing formula of the earned allowances.
SSANU branch chairman, Comrade Iliyasu Abdur-Ra’uf-Bello who chaired a mini congress and issued a statement after the meeting held at its secretariat in ABU main campus, said the Union declined the directive because it has resolved to write a protest letter to the Federal Government on the matter.
"We have resolved to write a protest letter to the Federal Government over the disparity in the earned allowance sharing formular as against staging a public protest as directed by the national body.
“As elders, we have resolved not to carry placards going round protesting because it will only amount to waste of time and energy.
“Issue of disparity between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the remaining three unions namely SSANU, Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT) is worrisome.
"ASUU had received N30 billion while the remaining three unions received only N5 billion, lamenting that the figures glaringly reflected an imbalance from the side of government.
“We believe in the ability of government of the day to address this issue and we are hopeful that those fully involved in this matter will look at the disparity and do justice to it.
“By doing justice I mean they will endeavour to close the wide gap already created between the unions in the Nigerian universities,” he pleaded.
