By Our Reporter

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU and Non-Academic Staff Union of Education, NASU have defied the Federal Government’s orders to end the strike and resume work, stressing that nothing will make them back out on the indefinite strike, until all their demands are met.

SSANU and NASU had embarked on Monday on an indefinite strike over non-payment of their four months salary arrears.

SSANU president Mohammed Ibrahim resisted all calls to end the strike insisting that it can only happen when their demands are met.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of Channel Television’s Politics Today, the SSANU president said: “So, it’s not the issue of meeting. The issue is that we want payment and that every procedure has been followed. They can direct this payment and I assure you in less than 24 hours, we can refer back to our principals, and this strike will be suspended.”

“Well, assurances are not something that we have not received before. So assurances from politicians and government officials are not new things to us. But the mandate that we have from our members is that this strike is indefinite and that we will only resume when we get the alerts.”

The strike has crippled activities across public universities in Nigeria with university gates shut and academic activities disrupted.

The unions had embarked on a warning strike on March 18, 2024.
Recall that in 2022, the unions went on an eight-month strike to press home their demands including better welfare packages, prompting the then-administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to invoke a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’.

Reprieve came for the striking workers after President Tinubu last October approved the release of four of the eight months withheld salaries for ASUU members, and they went back to work.

However, months after, SSANU and NASU followed suit, following a month-long ultimatum issued to the Federal Government over unfulfilled promises and what the unions referred to as ‘disdainful treatment’ by the government.

In the light of the recent situation, the Federal Government has appealed to the striking workers to allow reason to prevail, calling for dialogue.

According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions, Dandutse Mohammed the call for dialogue with the Federal Government is to avert further hardship and academic disruptions, adding that a peaceful resolution would be a more responsible approach.