Members of the non-teaching staff in public universities in Nigeria, under the aegis of Joint Action Committee, JAC, will begin a three-day nationwide strike on Tuesday, the group has said.
The strike action is to protest over the government’s handling of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, sharing formula of the Earned Allowances and other issues, JAC added.
To this end, the association said it had asked its various chapters to use Monday to mobilise all their members to ensure total compliance to the directive.
JAC is made up of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, SSANU
The decision to embark on the protest was arrived at on Friday night at a meeting held by the leadership of NASU and SSANU, in Abuja.
In late December 2020, the Federal Government approved N40 billion Earned Allowances for the four university-based unions and allocated 75 percent of the amount to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, alone, leaving 25 percent for the other three unions.
That agreement with the ASUU was part of the resolution of the union’s nine-month strike that crippled learning in the public universities in the country.
Since then however, the nation’s university system has been rocked by further turmoil, as the other unions have kicked against the sharing formula.
Together with another union, the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, the two unions have rejected the sharing formula vowing to keep the universities would remain under lock and key until the government corrects the alleged imbalance.
At the Friday meeting, JAC reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, reached and signed with the Federal Government on 20th October 2020 at the Conference Room of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.
In a communique signed by the SSANU President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, JAC listed some of the contentious issues that necessitated the directive to include inconsistencies in IPPIS payments; non-payment of Earned Allowance; non-payment of arrears of new minimum wage; delay in the renegotiation of the FGN)NASU/SSANU 2009 Agreements.
It listed other factors to include the non-payment of retirement benefits to former members; non-constitution of visitation panels to universities; poor funding of universities; teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units among others.
It added that after the protest, after the three-day protest, the two unions would meet on Thursday to review the success of the protest and the next steps to take, which include embarking on an indefinite strike.
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The unions have notified the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who is the conciliator between the Federal Government and the unions of their intention to embark on the protest.
