The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union under the auspices of the Joint Action Union, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, on Tuesday staged a protest to demand payment of the N30 billion earned allowance from the federal government.
The protesters, who disrupted smooth vehicular movement into the university, held placards with various inscriptions such as “We are stakeholders, we need equal treatment,” “We say no to NUPEMCO,” “Implement the 2009 agreement to the fullest,” “FGN, resume negotiations with JAC” among others.
The JAC Chairman, ATBU, Com. Austin Jadi, led other members of the two unions after a congress to stage the protest marching from the venue to the Institution’s gate.
Speaking to newsmen in front of the School gate, the JAC Chairman, Jadi, said that the protest is also against Federal Government’s refusal to obey court judgment on staff school salaries.
He said that ASUU, NASU, SSANU and NAAT, entered into an agreement with the federal government, but at the end of the day, when payment was made, it was selective.
According to them, SSANU and NASU are stakeholders in the system and must be treated fairly by the Federal Government.
He said: “At the last time, we asked the government that this issue of selected payment should not be introduced any longer into the University system, but today, we wake up to discover that the government sent in, especially the issue of the earned of allowance, a percentage formula which is: Academic staff 80% the three non-teaching unions in the University, 20%.
“This is unacceptable and we reject it in total. We are calling on the federal government to know that all of us are major stakeholders in the system and we should be treated equally. We are calling on the federal government to know that this selective application of judgement is not good for the system.
“We want to acknowledge that the government, for now, has decided to create more struggle into the university system. Therefore, we are calling on the government to rescind and think about the issue of the 2009 agreement with the University workers.”
The JAC Chairman added that “We have a court judgment about the issue of Staff School but up to today, the federal government has not respected that judgement of the Industrial Court. We are calling on the government to obey that Court order about the Staff Schools.
“We call on the federal government once again, that please, for the benefit of our children and the parents, they should correct the mistakes that have already been created by them (Federal government). This is not the issue of Unions but it’s a mistake that came from the government, so we call on them to rectify and correct that.”
Jadi said that “the issue of divide and rule in this system is no longer acceptable by us as JAC,” and we are calling on the government to make equal treatment to all Unions on Campus.
He said that the union’s protests are being done locally at our various branches across the federation, after which there will be zonal protests.
“After that, there will be the national protest which will be ‘Operation Occupy Abuja’ for three days. And if the government fails to yield to our demands, then we will embark on total and indefinite strike as directed.
“In the event that anything did not come out from this protest, the federal government should expect the mother of all strikes,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, the Senate, on Tuesday, passed a resolution to avert impending strike by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (NASU).
This followed a motion by Sen. Barau Jibril (APC-Kano), on the urgent need to avert the impending strike by SSANU and NASU.
Barau, who brought the motion, cited order 42 and 52 of the Senate rule, saying both unions had issued a strike warning to the Federal Government.
He said the unions had indicated their planned strike was based on the inability of government to grant their request, NAN reports.
According to Barau, the unions said their members were excluded from participating in the new pension administration approved for university lecturers.
He explained that the unions said the payment of 20 per cent earned allowance to their members as against the payment of 80 per cent to the Academic Staff Union of University (ASSU), was not acceptable.
Barau said the planned strike, if allowed to go on would not be in the interest of the nation’s tertiary institutions.
He maintained that the senate owned it a duty to intervene in the proposed strike.
Contributing, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi), who seconded the motion, said it was important for Senate to intervene to avoid another crisis in higher institutions.
In his contribution, Sen. Chimaroke Nnamani,(PDP-Enugu), said the senate must urgently intervene to advert the looming strike by the unions.
Sen. Ibrahim Oloriebe (APC- Kwara), said the effect of strike would put several students on the streets.
Other senators, who supported the motion stressed the need for a stable calendar in the educational system, given the importance of manpower to the development of any nation.
Some of the senators also called for adequate funding of tertiary institutions and payment of lecturers.
The senate thereafter, resolved to invite the leadership of SSANU, NASU and ASSU to resolve the issue.
It also resolved to invite officials of Ministry of Labour and Productivity and Ministry of Education to address issues raised by the unions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the unions had begun a three- day protest on Monday to press home their demands from the federal government.