Following the meeting with the Federal government, the non-academic staff unions in Nigerian public universities have said that the strike action that began on Monday continues until their members receive their withheld four months’ salaries.
News About Nigeria reports that this was said by the Vice President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Abdussobur Salaam, shortly after meeting with the government representatives at the Federal Ministry of Education on Thursday.
The meeting was held at the education ministry, with the outgoing Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Nasir Gwarzo, together with both unions.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Salaam said, “We are not suspending for now but we are awaiting the actions from the ministry, based on what they have told us, the assurances they have given us. Therefore, the unions would wait until the withheld salaries are paid before suspending the ongoing strike. We are not suspending for now but we are awaiting the actions from the ministry based on what they have told us, the assurances they have given us.
“We have dealt with too many assurances which have not translated to any results, so we are not in a hurry to take them for their words, until when we receive an alert, then we know that what they have assured us has translated into reality.”
Recall that the Nigerian government had withheld the salaries of university staff who took part in an eight-month-long strike in 2022 over the disagreement between the unions and the government.
