FG paid only 25% withheld salaries to non-academic staff —SSANU

Joseph Kalizibe, chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) at the Federal University, Otuoke, has said only 25 percent of the withheld salaries were paid to striking members contrary to the President Bola Tinubu’s directive.

Kalizibe told BusinessDay in a telephone conversation on Sunday that the members were surprised that only one month out of the four months of withheld salaries, amounting to 25 percent, were paid to the striking university workers over the weekend.

“They were supposed to pay 100 percent of the four months withheld salaries but the President directive them to pay 50 percent, which is two months. But what we have gotten so far is one month, which is 25 percent,” he said.

Kalizibe further said that members are waiting for directives from union leaders to determine if the strike would continue or be called off.

“For now, I can’t speak on whether the strike will continue. We are waiting for the directives from the Joint Action Committee because it’s not just about our union alone,” he explained.

Recall BusinessDay had earlier reported that Mohammed Ibrahim, the SSANU national president, had, in a statement, assured that his members would call off the strike if the federal government honoured President Tinubu’s approved 50 percent payment.

“If payment is made, we don’t have to meet. We will call off the strike.

“The economy is harsh. Our members are going through a lot. To commute to work is tough. The price of petrol and other logistics are so high.

“All of us working in the universities are not happy to see this situation happen. We had severally called the attention of those in charge of our governance to understand that our universities are in their states.

“We extended our patience by two weeks, then another month. Three months passed, yet the payment remained unpaid. So, we had exhausted all avenues of trying to pacify our members,” he had said.

It is now uncertain if the striking university workers will decide to call off the industrial action in the face of the payment of one month out of the four months withheld salaries.

The JAC of both the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) had, on Sunday last week, declared an indefinite strike which commenced on Monday, October 28, to press home their demands for the payment of their four months of withheld salaries.