University workers protest in Ondo over unpaid allowance

UNIVERSITIES workers under the aegis of Joint Action Committee (JAC), on Wednesday, protested over the refusal of the Federal Government to negotiate with the union over unpaid allowances.

The workers which included, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (SSANU), Non Academic Staff of Nigeria (NASU), and National Association of Academics Technologists (NAAT), trooped to the major streets of Akure, Ondo State capital, to register their displeasure over what they term insensitivity of the Federal Government to their plight.

The workers who were armed with placards of various inscriptions such as: “No to divide and rule in the Nigerian University system” “Don’t turn Non-Teaching staff to second class citizens, we are free born Nigerians” “No to an encroachment of Non-Teaching staff jobs in the universities, teachers should teach and research” SSNA, NASU, NAAT say no to no work, no pay is equal to no pay no work” and “One year after NICN judgment, government yet to implement judgment”, came from all the tertiary institutions across the South West states.  In

Speaking to journalists after the protest, the National Vice President of SSANU, Mr. Alfred Jimoh,  said the resumed strike action was to protest the injustice and dehumanisation being meted to the Non-Teaching Staff in Nigerian University system.

Jimoh said the strike action which began last week was a sequel to the non-implementation of the agreement reached between the unions and the federal government on September 29.

According to him, the strike action which started on December 3, following the refusal of the Federal Government refuses to equally distribute the N23 billion earned allowance between the teaching and non-teaching staff and the non-performance of the Memorandum of Terms of Settlement with the three unions.

He described the development as painful saying that the government had pushed them into the avoidable strike action despite the show of understanding and reluctance to embark upon the strike.

The union, however, called on the government to release another N30billion to be added to the shared N4.6billion shared to the three non-teaching staff and to immediately commence the implementation of the monthly payment of the allowance.

His words “we are not unmindful of the effect of our strike on parents and our students, but we regret that, we have no option than to embark on the strike as the last option since all our efforts to engage government were ignored and only the union that is most prone to strike is the one government would always want to favour.”

The unions called on Nigerians to appeal to the government to listen to the voice of the protesting workers.