The Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has begun shut down of all activities in universities across the country from Monday, as it embarks on indefinite strike.
A statement on Sunday and signed by National President, SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, General Secretary, NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, said the ultimatum it gave the Federal Government over its withheld salaries expired Sunday midnight.
The unions are demanding, among others, the payment of the four-month withheld salaries, improved remuneration, earned allowances and implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.
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.
Last October, President Bola Tinubu directed the payment of four of the eight months withheld salaries for the academic staff. It was finally paid in February.
The directive was silent about the non-teaching staff, raising concerns as to their fate. The unions also described the directive as selective and kicked against it.
The unions subsequently wrote to the government, gave ultimatums, protested and held warning strikes, but their four-month salaries are still being withheld.
The statement, called on all the state-owned universities to also incorporate their local demands into the strike action as appropriate. “Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all NASU and SSANU branches in Federal and State Owned Universities as well as Inter-University Centres,” it read.