FG, SSANU, NASU Meet To Avert Strike

The Federal Government will today (Thursday) meet with the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions to chart ways forward to avert strike by the unions.

The meeting is slated to hold at the office of the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman.

The meeting is coming on the heels of the expiration of a two-week ultimatum the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and NASU issued to the Federal Government to pay them their four-month withheld salaries or they would shut down universities.

The Federal Government had through the Ministry of Labour and Employment invoked the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy when the four university-based unions embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022.

But President Bola Tinubu in October last year granted amnesty to the university workers and directed that four months of the withheld salaries should be paid.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had also said the payment was for all the university workers who participated in the strike.

While the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been paid their four months withheld salaries as directed by President Tinubu, the other three unions, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) are yet to receive their payments, a development that has generated tension and threat.

In a desperate move to avert the looming strike, the government has fixed a meeting with SSANU and NASU for Thursday to address the contentious issues.

A source privy to the meeting said, “The Minister of Education has called to meet with SSANU and NASU tomorrow (today) maybe to persuade us not to go on strike. We will honour the invitation. We are also going to meet with the Minister of State for Labour and Employment by 3 pm on Thursday.”

Recall that the JAC had planned to meet on July 4 after the expiration of the two-week ultimatum to review the response of the government to their demands and declare an indefinite strike if the government refused to pay their withheld salaries.