By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) last Tuesday, 9th July 2024 called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to as a matter of necessity revisit the 2009 FG/NASU/SSANU agreement and attend to other unresolved issues raised by the Unions.
The Unions made their feelings known during a protest march led by their leaders at the Awka Campus of the institution, disclosing unresolved issues such as “Unpaid four months Arrears of Salaries”, “Backlog of Earned Allowances of Members” and “Review of the 2009 FG/SSANU/NASU Agreement.”
Addressing journalists shortly during the peaceful protest, SSANU UNIZIK Chairperson, Comrade Njideka Nwangwu informed that the protest march by both unions was to press home their demands and tell the Federal Government that the Nigerian workers were no longer happy over the current state of their withheld salaries of the lawful industrial action they embarked upon in 2022 despite the nod for the payment of the arrears.
The SSANU Chairperson highlighted other issues such as Renegotiation of the 2009 FG/SSANU/NASU agreement, improvement of the working conditions of Nigerian workers via approval of the request of N250,000 minimum wage and tackling of insecurity in the land.
'The protest today is to take our request to the Federal Government and tell FG that Nigerian workers are no longer happy over our withheld salaries of the strike we embarked on in 2022 despite approvals for the payment in 2023.
'We also want to highlight other issues such as renegotiation of the 2009 agreement with Federal Government which is long overdue and we call on FG to do the needful. Our request of N250,000 minimum wage should be handled urgently to address the current economic realities while we also call on FG to ensure the payment of our Earned Allowances,' Nwangwu said.
The Union members in the course of the protest march displayed placards with inscriptions such as: “FG review the 2009 FG/SSANU/NASU agreement”, “FG Stop Treating us Unjustly”, “FG pay us N250,000 Minimum Wage”, “Reduce the High Electricity Tariff the Masses are Suffering” and “FG don’t set Universities on Fire.
For his part, Comrade Chigozie Ikegulu, NASU UNIZIK Chairperson, noted that both unions had explicitly spelt out their requests on Monday during had a sensitization meeting with their members about the protest with a rally scheduled for 18th July 2024 in Abuja if FG failed to yield to the Union’s demands.
'Our requests are well spelt out as we had before now held a meeting with our members to sensitize them about the protest and we hope that the Federal Government will address our demands urgently to avert the looming industrial action. The Union at the national level will also have a rally holding on 18th of July 2024 in Abuja after which we will await further directives that will be thoroughly complied with towards our demands,' Ikegulu said.
Comrade Ikegulu also stated that non-teaching staff members are the backbone of universities in administration, right from the point of admission to graduation of the students and play a very significant role in University administrative processes. The Union leader called on the government to address their requests to enhance smooth administrative activities in the institution.