Withheld Salaries: SSANU Threatens Protest As Government Releases ASUU Payments

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has threatened to protest if the withheld salaries of its members are not paid.

This comes following the exclusion of SSANU members from the payment of the withheld salaries by the government, which commenced payments for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday.

The salaries were withheld when former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration invoked a "No Work, No Pay policy" against ASUU and SSANU as they went on strike for eight months in 2022.

The members of ASUU and the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) on Monday confirmed that the Nigerian government has initiated partial payments of withheld salaries of lecturers.

"Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in," said Professor Gbolahan Bolarin, chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology.

The development comes as the ASUU leaders threatened to take action if agreements earlier reached with the government, including the payment of the withheld salaries, are not fulfilled.

However, the non-academic staff of the universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions have not received any salaries, prompting them to accuse the government of deliberately frustrating them.

"This is just terrible, we found out that only ASUU's payment was approved. As it is, there is tension on all the campuses we are not angry that they are paying ASUU, but they should know that it is not only ASUU that went on strike," said Mohammed Ibrahim, the National President of SSANU.

"Why should our case be different?" he questioned.

"The government should pay everyone who works in the university. We can't guarantee continuous peace in our universities. We have written to the Chief of Staff and Minister of Education and we escalated it to Nigeria Labour Congress. There is a palpable danger if SSANU are not paid their backlog," Ibrahim added.

The SSANU president revealed that the members of the association will hold a meeting Tuesday and a decision will be made Wednesday morning, hinting at potential protests.

"We are under pressure; this is a clear injustice as no university can operate without the non-teaching staff," he said.

Abdussobur Salaam, SSANU's National Vice-President, also criticized the Nigerian government's move, saying, "The Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU should therefore not be held responsible should the wheel of administration and corporate governance be grounded to a halt, as we have exercised enough patience with the government."

Salaam pointed out that the association has kept patience despite facing the "harsh economic conditions occasioned by policies of the current administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu."

Nigeria has been going through an economic crisis since Tinubu announced fuel subsidy removal, increasing the cost of food and fuel in the country.

However, the World Bank said earlier this month that it will increase the financial support for Nigeria, just as it lauded the economic reforms under Tinubu's administration.