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University workers threaten strike action over N40bn earned allowance
By Modupe Shodeinde
University workers under the aegis of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), have threatened to embark on an industrial strike action over the alleged disparity in sharing the N40 billion earned allowance released to the four university-based unions.
NAAT and two other unions – the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) – are protesting the alleged allocation of 75 per cent to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and 25 per cent to them from the N40 billion allowance.
The union gave the government 14-day ultimatum to address concerns before embarking another round of industrial action in public universities.
NAAT President Ibeji Nwokoma told reporters in Abuja that the union had written to Ngige about their planned industrial action.
He said: “We have written to the government that NAAT as a body ought to have been given a specified percentage of the N40 billion. You must define it. You can’t just say ASUU 75 per cent and others 25 per cent. Let us know the specific percentage you are giving to NAAT as a union.
“In the MoU we entered with the government on November 18, in item number 2b, we demanded that in sharing of the N40 billion released, that government should clearly define what is going to be allocated to each union and government agreed to the genuineness of our demands and said NUC and Federal Ministry of Education would work it out in conjunction with the union. And what they have done negates completely the spirit of that MoU.
“We have given government 14 days. We wrote to the government on December 30. And we have given government 14 working days and if at the end of the 14 working days our demands are not met, we will resume our suspended strike.
“We will close down the schools; there will be no opening of schools. If anybody thinks that ASUU has called off the strike and that schools will reopen, then let the person dare us. Let us know how effective or how possible it is for schools to reopen when technologists are on strike.
SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, also expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to honour its promise to pay members and workers in Nigerian tertiary institutions the arrears of the New National Minimum Wage that was approved by the government since April 2020.
However, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said he was yet to be officially notified by the union about the planned strike action.
The minister, who spoke with The Nation, directed the leadership of NAAT, SSANU and NASU to the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Education on the allocation of the N40 billion allowance.
“They should go to the NUC and the Federal Ministry of Education and find out the exact position of the N40 billion they are talking about.
“It is the NUC and FMoE that will determine what each union will get from the N40 billion because they also have the template as submitted by the various universities for those earned allowances.”
