Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Kogi State, on Tuesday embarked on a peaceful protest to herald the three-day warning strike notice it issued to the Federal Government.
The placard-carrying university staff took over the gates and other areas of the Adankolo campus of the institution as early as 8am.
In a statement by the Federal University Lokoja chapter of SSANU signed by Uche Onyedi, chairman, SSANU/Joint Action Committee, the staff threatened a complete shutdown of the varsity if government fails to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into by the parties.
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“Gentlemen of the press, you recall that the JAC of NASU and SSANU had a 14-day warning strike which started from midnight of 4th of October and ended on 12 midnight 18th of October, 2020,” the statement said.
It said as a result of the warning strike by NASU/SSANU, an eight-point MoU was signed by JAC of SSANU and NASU on one hand, other stakeholders of the Federal Government on the other hand, at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Abuja, on the 20th of October, 2020, in which a committee was constituted to look at their demands with a view to mapping out ways of solving them.
“Very unfortunately, the Federal Government reneged on its promises to implement the agreements contained in the MoU.
“You are aware that there are glaring inconsistencies in the IPPIS payment platform, non-payment of allowances, non-payment of arrears of minimum wage consequential adjustments, delay in renegotiation of the 2009 agreements, very poor funding of state-owned universities, lack of visitation panels to universities for a very long time, non-payment of retirement benefits.
“We are asking the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency implement the MoU now to avoid closing down the university for another year,” it said.
