SSANU asks FG to reinstate staff school teachers to varsity payroll

THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari to order erring universities to reinstate the university staff school teachers to the university payroll and pay all their outstanding arrears of salary so as not to jeopardize the peace currently being enjoyed in all universities across the country.

This was disclosed by the national vice president and chairman western zone of the association, Mr Alfred Jimoh, while addressing journalists at the union’s secretariat, University of Ibadan.

Jimoh said the leadership of the union is worried that some of the affected members of the staff now live in a state of penury following non-compliance with a court judgment, notably by two federal universities – University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State.

“The Federal Government took SSANU to the industrial court in Abuja to seek the interpretation of a clause in the 2009 FGN/SSANU agreement which says ‘The University shall be responsible for the capital and recurrent expenditure of the staff primary school’.

“While the government agents claimed that ‘the university’ as contained in the agreement means that each university and not government, shall be responsible for their staff primary schools as their private enterprise, the union, SSANU, who sat to negotiate and signed the agreement, insisted that since government is the owner of the universities, ‘the university’, as contained in the agreement means the government,” he said.

Jimoh added that the National Industrial Court in its judgment delivered on December 5, 2016, ruled in favour of the union (SSANU), saying that it is therefore surprising to see the government that had earlier boasted that it would abide by the ruling of the court now prevaricating over the implementation of the court judgment.

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“Our members in these sections/units of the universities, particularly in the Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Ibadan, have been subjected to untold hardship and humiliation as a result of non-payment of salaries and/or irregular payment of half salary.

He said SSANU as a union is running out of patience, as all its diplomatic overtures to the corridors of power have not yielded the desired result.

“We therefore use this medium to call on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the federal government and President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful by reinstating the university staff school teachers to the university payroll and pay all their outstanding arrears of salary,” he added.

On earned allowance, Jimoh said the contentious issue is yet to be resolved in the federal universities.