Salary Arrears: FG Contemplates Half Payment for SSANU, NASU Members

The Federal Government has announced that non-academic staff members of universities will receive half of their withheld salaries if President Bola Tinubu approves the payment of their salary arrears.

Education Minister Tahir Mamman made this statement during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Wednesday.

Mamman argued that members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) did not participate in the same strike period as their academic counterparts in 2022.

In March, SSANU and NASU members staged a one-week warning strike to protest the withholding of their salaries by the Federal Government. The unions criticized the government for paying withheld salaries to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while overlooking the non-academic unions.

All unions had engaged in an eight-month strike in 2022 to advocate for various demands, including improved welfare. Then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration subsequently implemented a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy against the unions.

However, President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four out of the eight months’ withheld salaries last October.

SSANU and NASU accused the Federal Government of unfair treatment and discrimination for not compensating them like their academic counterparts.

Regarding the delay in payment to NASU and SSANU members, Mamman explained, “No, it has not been approved. There is a court judgment on no work, no pay. ASUU receiving four months’ pay was a discretionary decision by the President. So, it doesn’t automatically apply to NASU and SSANU, but the matter is under consideration.”

When asked about the timeline for payment to non-academic university staff members, Mamman said, “I don’t think it is safe to specify a time, but we are working on it and pushing for it.

And in any case, the non-academic staff were not on strike for the same period as the academic staff — about four months or so. So, if they receive payment, it will be half of that, if the President follows his precedent with the academic staff.”

Regarding the discrimination claim by NASU and SSANU, the minister stated, “That cannot be right, there is no ranking. These are people working in the same field, performing different roles but all contributing to the same objective. I believe there was a communication issue; it wasn’t intentional to exclude them from that benefit.”