SSANU threatens indefinite strike

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian
Universities (SSANU) has said it may embark
on an indefinite strike if the Federal
Government does not implement the
agreement it signed in 2009.
The National Vice-President of the union,
Comrade Alfred Jimoh, spoke yesterday at the
SSANU congress organised to discuss the
hazard and earned allowances as well as other
issues.
It was held at the Arts Theatre Hall of the
University of Ibadan (UI).
The union leader said: “We have been reading
the lips of the government and have been
observing their body language. We think what
they are intending to do, particularly with
respect to the earned allowances, is not in the
interest of our members.”
He said the agreement has been in operation
since 2009 and some earned allowances from
the agreement have not been implemented.
Jimoh said a struggle is going on with the
union in the university system over accrued
allowances and other parts of their allowances,
stressing that the Federal Government offered
something, which does not solve the problem.
He said the Federal Government paid about
N30 billion as part of an allowance that had
accrued to over N90 million, adding that they
have not spoken on how the continuous
implementation of the agreement would be.
Comrade Jimoh said SSANU has been
discussing with the government, which has
yielded only promises, adding that when the
union discovers that the government has
failed, it would begin strike.
He noted that SSANU would pressurise the
government to ensure that all aspects of the
agreement are implemented.
The Chairman of SSANU, UI branch, Comrade
Wale Akinrinde, said the congress is
determined to hold a peaceful protest from
the venue of the congress to the main gate of
the university, to sensitise the public to what
they experience in the university system.
He added that they were persuaded by their
vice- president not to begin the protest until
they discovered that the government was not
yielding.
Akinrinde said: “We do not know why the
government is not willing to implement an
agreement duly signed between us.”
He went on: “The Federal Government threw
peanuts at us as if we are dogs. They allowed
the money to pile up and they are not coming
up to say when they will pay the rest of the
money.”
Comrade Akinrinde said the union is also
concerned about the development of
infrastructures, laboratories and the training
of workers.
He enjoined the unions, workers and patriotic
Nigerians to fashion out a way for the survival
of the universities.