The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) have declared a two-week warning strike, beginning from Monday.
The development may compound the crisis at the Nigerian universities following the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
This followed what the unions described as the failure of the Nigerian government to react to its letter earlier issued threatening to down tools.
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The notice is contained in a memo addressed to the leadership of the unions’ branches nationwide and dated March 25, 2022.
The memo by JAC, which was signed by SSANU president, Mohammed Ibrahim, and NASU general secretary, Peters Adeyemi, is titled; “Commencement of Two-Week Warning Strike.”
“Please note that the two-week warning strike should be comprehensive and total as no concession should be given under any guise.
“Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all branches of NASU and SSANU in the universities and inter-university centres.”
In a letter addressed to the office of the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, and dated March 16, 2022, JAC of SSANU and NASU, had accused the government of insincerity in its implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached with the government in October 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
The letter, written at the end of a meeting to review the situation and signed by both Messrs Adeyemi and Ibrahim, gave the Nigerian government up till March 27 to address its demands or face an initial two-weeks strike.
JAC had given two weeks ultimatum to the government to implement the said demands, while it issued ‘red alerts’ to its members, asking them to prepare for a possible showdown with the government. (DailyTrust)
