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Gabriel Dike
Worried by the partial implementation of the signed 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and three unions in the universities, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities, have concluded plans for a protest rally.
The protest rally against the Federal Government will hold on Thursday, March 8, in Abuja, and will involve all branches of the three staff unions.
In a circular dated February 28, addressed to branch chairmen and signed by NAAT President, Sani Suleman, NASU president, Chris Ani and SSANU president, Samson Ugwoke, said the protest rally would start from Unity Fountain, Abuja.
On Monday, December 4, 2017, non-teaching staff in public universities began an indefinite strike to protest the sharing formula of the N23 billion released by the federal government to settle their earned allowances. In formula adopted by the government, the non academic staffs were allocated 11 per cent of the N23billion as against 89 per cent for academic staff.
Daily Sun gathered that branch chairmen of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) in public universities have been mandated to moblise members for the protest rally.
The circular read, “The Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU is organising a national peaceful protest rally to drive home their demands for the implementation of the federal government 2009 agreement with the three unions.
‘’The protest rally is to take place on Thursday 8 of March 2018 while the leadership of JAC of the three unions is to have a meeting with the principal officers of the branches at the national secretariat of NAAT’’.
Giving reasons for the protest rally, the Public Relations Officer of SSANU, Mr. Abdussobur Salaam, said the contentious earned allowances was part of the 2009 agreement.
Salaam said, ‘’We are looking at the whole issue of our strike holistically. Staff schools, earned allowances, shortfalls in salaries, corruption in the university system, usurpation of non teaching positions by academic staff, approval of contiss 14 and 15 for technologists’’.
The strike which entered the third months has crippled administrative activities and forced some universities to postpone convocation and matriculation ceremonies due to threat by the non-teaching staff to disrupt the events.
