Kayode Olanrewaju 
Non-teaching staff unions in the Nigerian university system, comprising the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have declared a seven-day nationwide warning strike, commencing from today, 18 March.
The warning strike is declared to demand the payment of their withheld four-month salaries for which the academic staff union, ASUU, has been paid four months of their almost eight months’ withheld salary over their participation in the nationwide strike in 2022.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC), however, criticised the Federal Government for its handling of the situation, questioning why salaries withheld from SSANU and NASU members remained unpaid while those of the Academic Staff “Union of Universities (ASUU) were disbursed.
The Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU has inundated the Federal Government with petitions on the need to pay the withheld four-month salaries of our members in the federal universities and inter-university centres as done to academic staff counterparts to no avail,” they noted.
Declaring the warning strike in a circular issued by the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU at the weekend, and signed by the General Secretary, Prince Peter Adeyemi and President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, the unions said the seven-day strike would be total and comprehensive as no concession should be given in any guise In a circular to all branch chairman of NASU and SSANU in the universities and inter-university centres, dated Friday, March 15, the leadership of JAC, called out their members to stay away from their duty posts, and instructed them to withdraw their services for a period of seven days.
Titled: “Commencement of a seven-day warning strike,” the circular, which declared that this action follows an earlier threat and ultimatum issued to the Nigerian government concerning the unpaid four month withheld salaries of their members, added: “Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all NASU and SSANU branches in the universities and inter-university centres.
