Federal Government to Negotiate with SSANU and NASU Over Withheld Salaries

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has pledged to negotiate with the teaching and non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities.

This promise comes in response to ongoing protests by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU). These unions are demanding the payment of four months’ withheld salaries, improved remuneration, earned allowances, and the implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.

For two weeks, ASUU chapters nationwide have been staging protests to raise public awareness of their unmet demands. SSANU and NASU began their nationwide protests on Tuesday and plan a grand protest in Abuja on July 18.

In a message to our correspondent, Mamman said, “We will keep on appealing and engaging with them to show understanding and allow peaceful resolution of the matter. We share their concerns but believe in the importance of a negotiated settlement to ensure a stable, non-disruptive session in tertiary education.”

The National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, told The NIGERIA NEWS 247 that the government has given the union a two-week timeline to meet its demands, ending on July 25.

“We have met with the Minister of Education and reached a timeline. They made promises to us and we want to see if they fulfill them. We are meeting again on July 25 to review their actions. The protest led them to call us for the meeting; they should fulfill their promise,” Osodeke said.

A letter published in a newspaper, dated June 20, 2024, stated that Nigerian academics were compelled to embark on a nationwide strike on February 14, 2022, due to the government’s inaction on resolving their issues.

Osodeke listed ten issues and emerging ones, including the conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU agreement based on the Nimi Briggs Committee’s 2021 draft agreement; release of withheld salaries from the 2022 strike; release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments due to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS); and funding for the revitalization of public universities as partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government budget.

Other demands include Earned Academic Allowances, also partly captured in the 2023 budget; addressing the proliferation of universities by federal and state governments; implementing the reports of visitation panels to universities; rectifying the illegal dissolution of governing councils; and adopting the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions in place of IPPIS.

Osodeke urged, “Your Excellency is requested to set necessary machinery in motion for bringing ASUU and major stakeholders (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) together to address the outstanding issues in FGN/ASUU engagements since 2009. This will save our university system from another round of industrial action and its disruptive potential. The President’s promise of smooth academic calendars in universities can be achieved if the government sincerely addresses the listed issues.”

The NIGERIA NEWS 247 reports that the JAC of SSANU and NASU, upon invitation, met with the Minister of Education, the Minister of State for Education, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, other top ministry officials, and the National Universities Commission.

A circular jointly signed by the General Secretary of NASU and the National President of SSANU, Peters Adeyemi and Mohammed Ibrahim, respectively, stated, “Unfortunately, the engagement with the Minister of Education has not shown any convincing commitment to the payment of the withheld salaries and resolution of other pending grievances of JAC of the two unions.”

The JAC of SSANU/NASU expressed disappointment in the government’s failure to meet the unions’ demands. These demands include scrapping IPPIS, unpaid earned allowances, payment of the withheld four-month salary, delay in renegotiating the FGN/NASU/SSANU agreements, and non-payment of minimum wage arrears. Other issues include neglect and poor funding of state universities, non-payment of retirement benefits to outgoing members of the unions, and usurpation of the headship of non-teaching units, violating conditions of service and establishment procedures.