The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has threatened to shut down varsities nationwide and stage a country-wide protest on Tuesday to drive home its demands if not met before then.
SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have been in talks with the Federal Government over the four months salary arrears owed their members. It had some months back embarked on a warning strike and most recently gave the government a two-week ultimatum to meet its demands.
The union is however, accusing the Federal Government of making promises and not following them up with words with action. To this effect, they threatened to cripple activities on campuses nationwide if their demands were not met.
What They’re Saying
The SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim had while speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief program on Friday.
“So as very responsible leaders, what we have decided to do is that by Tuesday next week – that will be the ninth of July – we have directed our branches to hold protests all over the country in our branches to tell the world that something definitely is wrong somewhere that protest will take place in all our campuses.”
“And then, we will continue with the engagements. And then we will also have a grand protest in Abuja on the 18th of July where we will picket the office of the minister of education, the minister of labour who has not even shown any sign of seriousness on the matter.”
He had reiterated his statement by saying that if group’s demands were still unmet after the protests, they would take the next action.
“At the moment, we have declared that we will protest at the branches, and then we will have a grand protest in Abuja. Thereafter, we will go on a full-blown strike that will be total, comprehensive, indefinite, and without any concession.” He concluded.
