The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has called on the Nigerian government to release the withheld four months salaries of its members.
The union queried the rationale behind the government’s insistence on the “no work, no pay policy,” saying the due process was followed before embarking on the strike that lasted four months.
It blamed the government for the failure to implement contents of agreements entered into with the workers’ unions, noting that the government lacks the moral right to punish union members for embarking on industrial actions after all entreaties must have failed.
In a communique issued after its Special National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday, SSANU also lamented the non-payment of its members’ salaries across nine state-owned universities.
The communique, which was signed by SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, also condemned what it described as the constant harassment and intimidation of its members by some state governors and university authorities.
This year, industrial actions by Nigerian university workers grounded activities on public university campuses nationwide for eight months. SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and other Allied Institutions (NASU) lasted four months while members of their academic counterpart- the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were away from work for eight months.
The suspension of the industrial action by the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU had followed an understanding with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who pledged, on behalf of the government, to fulfill the earlier agreements reached with the unions, among other commitments.
At the end of the Special NEC meeting on Thursday, SSANU urged the federal government to expedite the process of upholding its parts of the terms of the agreement upon which the strike action was suspended.
The union rejected the No Work, No Pay stance, which it noted has resulted in the withholding of its members’ salaries.
The statement reads in part; “The root cause of the recent industrial action embarked upon by the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU was the failure of the government in honouring previous Collective Bargaining Agreements entered into with the unions.
“NEC, therefore, requests the Government to rescind this decision of “No work, No pay” and release the withheld salaries of members of the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU.”
The union commended its members “for their resilience in the midst of the hardship experienced during the last industrial action embarked upon by the union.”
SSANU condemned the culture of owing its members by some state-owned universities, blaming the development on the proliferation of tertiary institutions in the affected states.
It also lamented the attacks and victimisation of its members by some state actors and the proscription of unions by some authorities.
It said: “NEC notes that it has become a trend for State Governors or even Vice-Chancellors to proscribe trade unions at the slightest provocation. The case of the proscription of trade unions at Bamidele Olumilua University of Education Science and Technology, Ikere, Ekiti and the actions of the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki in the state-owned Ambrose All University, Ekpoma, are vivid examples.
“A situation where the State Governor is owing staff their legitimate wages but goes ahead to proscribe the unions is not only illegal, anti-democratic, wicked, but barbaric. NEC notes that proscriptions of Trade Unions do not lie within the powers of State Governors or University authorities and as such any declaration of prescription is an illegality which cannot stand the face of the law.”
On the owed salaries, SSANU listed the affected universities to include Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, and Adekunle Ajasin University AKungba Akoko, both in Ondo State; Kwara State University, Malete; Plateau State University, Bokkos; Abia State University, Uturu; Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki; Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, and Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti.
The unions, therefore, urged the state governments to conduct needs assessments for the existing state universities with a view to ascertaining deficiencies within them.
“The findings and recommendations of the needs assessment will guide the state government to allocate adequate funds to such institutions to enable them meet international best practices and save their universities from imminent collapse,” the communique added.