March 11, 2024
The non-teaching staff members of Nigerian public universities under the aegis of the Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) are set to commence a one-week warning strike on Monday, March 18, 2024.
The vice president of the association, Dr Abdussobuur Salaam disclosed this during a telephone conversation with SaharaReporters on Monday morning.
Salaam revealed that the decision to embark on the strike was taken after a resolution at the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which was held last week.
He said, “We have declared a seven-day warning strike effective from the 18th of March, which is next Monday pending due process within the rank of the union and also pending discussion with our sister union, NASU.
“But as far as SSANU is concerned, the National Executive Council (NEC) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday had resolved that as a union, we will be embarking on a week-long warning strike to press home our demands which had been abandoned by the government since 2022.”
He added that there was a high tendency that the union would eventually embark on an indefinite strike if the government failed to meet their demands within the period of the warning strike action.
He said, “After the expiration of the warning strike, we will assess the situation again and make a decision (whether to go on indefinite strike or not).”
The group earlier asserted that its members were not slaves, saying they should be paid when they fulfil their contractual obligations.
It stated that they had a calling and a contract with the government and their employers to execute whatever they agreed to do.
SSANU National President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, made this known on Thursday at the 47th National Executive Council meeting of the union at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Ondo State.
He added that President Bola Tinubu should be aware that he has saboteurs in his government, who are bent on frustrating his good intentions.
He also urged President Tinubu to purge his administration of saboteurs and replace them with people who are ready to help him deliver on his mandate.
