NASU, SSANU meet with Labour Minister over ‘imminent’ strike

The Federal Government on Tuesday met with members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities (SSANU) over the strike declared by the unions a week ago.

Present at the meeting held in Abuja is the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim; the spokesperson of the joint action committee of SSANU and NASU, Peters Adeyemi; among others.

The strike was declared on Friday by the joint action Committee of SSANU and NASU following their disagreement with the sharing formula of the N40 billion earned allowances which the Federal Government disbursed to the universities.

The non-teaching staff of the universities accused the government of giving priority to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The declared strike is expected to commence on Friday, February 5, even as the non-academic staff are demanding that their members be taken off the government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information (IPPIS).

They are also asking for a review of the sharing formula for the universities earned allowances between the teaching and non-teaching staff.

“The joint action committee of SSANU and NASU hereby resolves as follows: That members of NASU/SSANU shall embark on an indefinite, comprehensive and total strike with effect from February 5, 2021,” Adeyemi, said last Friday.

“Two weeks’ notice effective from today, Friday, January 22, 2021, is hereby given to the government and relevant stakeholders of this development.

“The October 2020 memorandum of understanding (MOU) resolved that the compliance of SSANU/NASU with respect to IPPIS would be corrected within two weeks.

“But three months after, there has been no correction of these anomalies leading to a high level of restiveness among our members who have been short-changed on account of the problem caused by IPPIS.” (Channels TV)