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No Salary Arrears, No Resumption – SSANU, NASU Insist Amid Ongoing Strike

Published

2 months ago

Oct 29, 2024.

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has declared that it will not back down from its current strike action, joined by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), until their demands are fully met.

SSANU and NASU commenced an indefinite strike on Monday in response to the non-payment of four months’ worth of salary arrears. Despite appeals for the unions to end the industrial action, SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim stressed that only the fulfillment of their demands will lead to its suspension.

“It’s not just about meetings. We need payment, and all required procedures have already been followed. A directive for payment could settle this, and within 24 hours, we could report back to our members and call off the strike,” Ibrahim stated on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

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He added, “We’ve received assurances from politicians and government officials before. But the mandate from our members is clear: this strike is indefinite and will only end when the payment alerts are received.”

The strike has disrupted activities across Nigerian public universities, halting classes and other campus functions.

Earlier this year, on March 18, SSANU and NASU staged a seven-day warning strike over the salary arrears. In response to past strikes, President Bola Tinubu had authorized partial payment of withheld salaries from a 2022 strike, during which the unions engaged in an eight-month protest for better welfare, met by a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy from then-President Muhammadu Buhari.