The President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Mohammed Ibrahim has appealed to the Federal Government (FG) to release the withheld 4 months salaries of its members. Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed that workers in public universities should be paid their withheld salaries which was halted by the previous administration’s ‘No work, No Pay’ policy as result of the industrial strike embarked by universities’ unions in 2022.
Ibrahim disclosed in a TV interview on Sunday, stating that the current government only paid the withheld salaries of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
He said, “Today, as I speak to you, our colleagues in ASUU have been to get theirs, and no one is saying anything about NASU and SSANU.
“We signed an agreement, and part of the agreement was that no one should suffer for taking part in the strike and salaries should not be withheld.
“We have been waiting and our patience is running out.”
He accused the government of treating this segment of staff with some disdain, adding that NASU and SSANU “own the engine of the administration of every university.”
He further said, "We are in charge of security, we are in charge of administration, we are in charge of medicals, we are in charge of hostels, we are in charge of electricity, we are in charge of everything apart from teaching. So, once our members down tools, no university can function in Nigeria.
"It is quite unfortunate. No union member wants to go on strike but when you are pushed to the wall, what would you do? You have to push back.
"You can see what is happening in the country. The economy is in dundrums and everybody is suffering. Most of our universities are located far outside the township and our members have to commute every day. Fuel cannot be accessed, food is scarce, our medicals can not be attended to, and members are suffering quite clearly."
