Due to unpaid salaries, varsity employees threaten to go on strike again.
On the margins of the union’s current National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, Prince Peters Adeyemi, the general secretary of NASU, hinted that the members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Other Associated Institutions would likely resumetheir suspended strike in protest of the Federal Government’s refusal to pay their withheld salaries.
In October 2023, President Tinubu ordered that members of NASU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities receive two of the four months’ salaries that the federal government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, withheld in 2022 after a protracted strike over unresolved disputes.
Adeyemi told reporters that the directive, which was issued two months ago, has not been followed.
What is new is that the President’s directive has been disobeyed. We used to know that the president’s words can be equated to a command. So, when the President said to do this, his aides quickly dealt with it.
But in this case, it seems as if the Minister of Finance has his priorities beyond what he ought to have done.”
The money has not been paid. Now it is obvious that we are going to resume our suspended strike. We have given the government enough notice.
Very recently, we had to prevail on our members to say, look, we think we are making headway, if we start a strike now, it may not be good.
But everything that we have done shows clearly that the Finance Ministry and the Minister are unwilling to pay the two months that they said Mr President approved.
“Our patience is already exhausted. We are going to resume the suspended strike. I know that when certain elements in a government treat the directive of the president with levity, it could mean that they are exploiting their closeness to the president, and the president will have to readjust.
“There is no reason for not paying this money. I think this is a big disrespect for the president and an attempt to provoke an industrial upheaval in an atmosphere that is cool and calm.
It works against the president’s resolve to say I don’t want strikes in the universities. And everything is being done by this government, at least the Minister, to prevent strikes.
The Ministry of Education has done its part, the president has done his part, the Finance Minister is the one sitting on our money.” he said
However, he refused to provide a specific date for the start of their strike action.
