The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has threatened to commence industrial action on October 6 if the federal government fails to address its demands.
The union accused the Federal Government of persistent neglect, broken promises, and deliberate disregard for agreements.
The union’s National Executive Council (NEC), which held its 52nd meeting at Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri, lamented that the government’s actions risk plunging the university system into another avoidable industrial crisis.
In a communiqué signed by its National President, Comrade Mohammed Haruna Ibrahim, SSANU expressed deep frustration at the Federal Government’s failure to renegotiate and implement the 2009 FG/SSANU Agreement, describing the silence of the renegotiation committee as “a betrayal of trust.”
The union warned that it would have no option but to act if the government failed to honour the two-week extension earlier granted by the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU.
“If this pattern of neglect continues, the Union will have no choice but to explore all lawful and appropriate avenues to compel compliance,” the communiqué read.
One of the key issues raised was the continued non-payment of two months’ withheld salaries of SSANU members who participated in the 2022 industrial action. The union described the government’s action as punitive and provocative. “NEC strongly condemns the continued withholding of salaries of SSANU members… and urges the Federal Government to immediately release the outstanding two months’ withheld salaries as a demonstration of good faith,” the statement emphasised.
