The industrial action by non-academic staff in the Nigerian University System (NUS) has disrupted on-going screening of candidates offered admission for the 2017/2018 academic session.
Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) in federal and state universities began an indefinite strike, yesterday, in protest against the sharing formula of N23 billion released by the Federal Government; for earned allowances, for all staff in the NUS.
After suspension of an indefinite strike by the academic and non-academic staff of the universities early this year, government released N23 billion to 24 federal universities to pay the Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) for 2009/2010.
The non-academic unions, last week, kicked against allocation of N18.3 billion to the academic staff and N4.6 billion to SSANU, NAAT and NASU members.
In a joint November 27 letter, signed by SSANU President, Samson Uwoke, NAAT’s Sani Suleiman and that of NASU, Chris Ani, they urged members to resume the suspended indefinite strike as from 12 midnight on Sunday, December 3.
At the University of Lagos, yesterday, the three unions, after a joint congress, protested on campus and rejected an allocation of N23, 220,335.15 million, out of N958, 000,000 million received by the institution.
Immediately after the joint congress, the union leaders and members stormed the Library, Senate building, Bursary and service areas and chased away members found in their offices.
Aside locking the main gate, the striking unions stormed the Multipurpose Hall and disrupted the screening for candidates admitted on merit.
Leaders of the unions told the candidates and their parents to go home; that the screening will not continue because of the strike and chased out members handling the exercise.
Meanwhile, teachers at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) are aggrieved that they have been left out of the EAA.
Speaking to newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State, yesterday, over the development, chairman of the university’s branch of the union, Dr. Usman Adebimpe, expressed dismay that teachers who did not go on strike for 18 years were being deprived of allowances meant to compensate those who worked while their counterparts who were perennially on strike were being paid. He spoke in the company of the secretary of his branch, Dr. Mary Yetunde.
Adebimpe, whose branch is currently not recognised by the national body of the union, traced the latest development to an unholy alliance between the national ASUU and the ministry of education, alleging that the ministry and its parastatals have been hijacked by the national ASUU to the detriment of well meaning educationists.
The UNILORIN ASUU leader urged the National Assembly to wade into the matter immediately, “to forestall a situation where members of the branch would be pushed to the wall.”
He, however, ruled out strike as an option to press home the demand.
|Sun
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