By Jonathan Ugbal
The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions, NASU, on Saturday suspended their strike actions after a meeting with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu in Abuja.
The suspension is expected to take effect from Wednesday and will last an initial 60 days, a statement issued by Peter Adeyemi, the spokesperson of the Joint Action Committee, JAC, of SSANU and NASU said, adding that it “is to allow government to implement the agreements reached.”
The two unions had embarked on strike on March 27, 2022, more than five weeks after the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had declared theirs on February 14th.
However, the activities in public tertiary institutions will remain skeletal as ASSU is yet to reach an agreement with the Federal Government.
But, the JAC statement further read: “Part of the agreement is the decision of the government to set aside the sum of N50 billion for the payment of earned academic and earned allowances, cogent decision on the University Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (U3PS), release of the white paper on university visitation panel and funding of the universities.
“On the poor funding of federal institutions, the Minister said he directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to ensure that all the schools are up-to-date on what they are supposed to do, otherwise sanctions will be visited on any institution that defaults.
“The Minister of Education also gave an assurance that no member of the unions that participated in the strike will be victimized.
“The Minister said President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to devout 15 per cent of the national budget to education.
“On the salary payment system, the Minister said the alternative payment systems provided by ASUU JAC of NASU and SSANU did very well. He added that the Federal Government is awaiting the report of the technical committee it set up before taking action on the matter.”