Some university workers under the aegis of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions (NASU) have agreed to return to work with effect from Wednesday, August 24 even as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) resolved to carry on with the 6-month old strike.
The two unions of the federal universities suspended their almost 5-month-old strike for a period of two months at a brief meeting today, August 20 between the leadership of both unions and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in Abuja
Adamu said during the meeting that the Federal Government has committed N50 billion to pay earned allowances for members of SSANU, NASU and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The new development is coming a few days after the Minister of Education hinted that members of five labour unions out of six within the university system would soon call off their strike, leaving only ASUU, who rejected the federal government’s decision to implement the “no work, no pay” rule.
It would be recalled that on March 27, members of SSANU and NASU declared a 2-week warning strike over some unresolved issues with the government which includes the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment of earned allowances, usurpation of non-academic career positions by vice-chancellors, the inclusion of university staff school into the university community, non-payment of minimum wage arrears, and funding of state universities.
The unions had extended the strike by another two weeks on April 10, citing the government’s failure to meet their demands and in June, the unions further extended the strike by two months.
The strike by SSANU and NASU has led to the suspension of the issuance of academic transcripts, mobilisation of graduates for the compulsory one-year service organized by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)