SURPRISING: Another Nation Wide University Strike?

Some university workers gave the government a two-week ultimatum.

SSANU

Another round of strike looms in Nigerian universities as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, on Thursday gave the federal government two weeks ultimatum to meet its demands.

The association particularly wants the federal government to reject the report of the NEEDS Assessment Committee set up on Nigerian public universities.

The chairman of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) branch of the association, Benedict Chukwuma, made this known in a statement issued by the association.

He said apart from the rejection of the report, the association also demanded the payment of the earned allowances as agreed to by government and SSANU. Also, the association rejected the report of the committee because it was aimed at downsizing the members of the association with a claim that the system was too heavy.

Mr. Chukwuma said the report of the committee was ill-conceived as it mainly targeted SSANU members, following the recommendation that non-teaching staff should be transferred to Federal and States Ministries of Education.

He however said despite the one week warning strike embarked upon to protest the recommendation, President Goodluck Jonathan went ahead to sign the report for execution.

He said, “The government position is unrealistic and unacceptable. We therefore call on the government to do away with the report submitted by the NEEDS Assessment Committee because it was made in bad faith and therefore leaves much to be desired”.

Mr. Chukwuma added that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the association had met with the federal government team led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, where it submitted comprehensive reaction to the NEEDS Assessment Report.

He stated that the Committee had therefore given the federal government two weeks to respond to its position on the payment of the earned allowances and the assessment report.

Source: Premium Times