The leaderships of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have directed members across university and inter-university centre campuses to begin indefinite strike from Monday, March 18, 2024.
Both unions had embarked on a seven-day warning strike last week to protest federal government’s failure to pay their withheld salaries.
A new memo, which was issued by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of both SSANU and NASU, and signed by the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, urged the branch leaders to ensure total compliance to the directive.
“Please note that the 7-day warning strike should be comprehensive and total as no concession should be given in any guise,” the memo reads.
“Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all NASU and SSANU branches in the Universities and Inter-University Centres.”
Recall that in 2022, both SSANU and NASU embarked on nationwide industrial action that further crippled activities across the campuses.
The action was to protest the government’s failure to fulfil its promises to the workers and what they described as gross under-funding of the universities.
At the time, the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy and withheld the workers’ salaries.
SSANU queried the rationale behind the government’s insistence on the “no work, no pay policy,” saying that due process was followed before embarking on the strike that lasted four months.
Till the end of his tenure, Buhari refused to authorize the payment of the workers’ salaries.