Non academic staff to continue strike over N66bn arrears

The three non-academic staff unions in the universities have insisted on prolonging the current industrial action until their N66billion earned allowances are fully paid.  The General Secretary of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Peters Adeyemi, stated thi He spoke on behalf of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and […]

The three non-academic staff unions in the universities have insisted on prolonging the current industrial action until their N66billion earned allowances are fully paid.

 The General Secretary of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Peters Adeyemi, stated thi

He spoke on behalf of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU). He said the Federal Government is insincere  and adopting divisive approach to restore academic activities in the universities.

He said the N66 billion outstanding is not a big amount that cannot be settled within a few days for a serious government that is in a hurry for national development.

He said, “The government should do well by giving what belongs to the non-teaching staff.  When government refuses to pay workers entitlements, it unwittingly put the huge national resources in the hands of looters.”

He also said  the Federal Government team spear heading the negotiation has not done enough to halt the strike action since it began on the 4th December 2017. 

 “On the 19th December 2017 when we met the Federal Government, what it said was that they are working silently to get additional money but they did not want that step to be announced. In fact, if they had matched their words with action, we would not have declared the strike in the first place. But government did not come up with any commitment. We expected government to take responsibility for the skewed payment but that did not happen. We declared the strike on the 4th December and government did not call us for a meeting until the 19th

December 2017. That is the first time money is released to the universities and distributed at the level of the ministry under a committee headed by the Permanent Secretary, leaving Bursars out under a government that is fighting corruption, a government that is talking about transparency and believe in due process.”