Strike paralyses activities at UI

Academic and administrative activities were on Monday disrupted at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, as the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) continued their warning strike to demand full payment of salaries and arrears from January 2016 to date.

Sources informed the Nigerian Tribune that staff members of the university have been collecting fraction of their salaries since January 2016 due to shortfall of allocation from the Federal Government.

As early as 7:00a.m. on Monday, the Joint Action Congress of Senior Staff of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), NASU and NAAT had stormed the gate of the university for a joint congress and put the gate under lock and key.

Following the development, heavy traffic jam was witnessed at the Agbowo end of the university, as people were forced to park their vehicles and trek inside the school but the gate was opened shortly after noon.

While the strike affected some faculties which are still writing their undergraduate examinations, movements within, into and outside the school were hampered.

The unions lamented that they were forced to take the latest action owing to the failure of the university’s administration to yield to their demands of commencing full payment of salaries by July ending and arrears of shortfalls from December 2015 to June 2016.

The Chairman of SSANU, Wale Akinremi, said the congress of the unions had resolved to commence the industrial action without any further warning following several unfulfilled promises.

The unions are also demanding payment of N15,000 and N30,000 hazard allowances for junior and senior staff respectively.

The unions had last week Friday ordered their members to go home after holding a joint congress at the university entrance gate forcing people to trek distances to their destinations.

Meanwhile, in a post on the social media, Bursar of the university, Michael Alatise, was said to have disclosed that the university has now received payment of shortfalls covering January to April, 2016 with directive of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka, that the money be paid.