SSANU, NASU Suspend Strike For Two Months

Saturday PUNCH reports that the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions have suspended their strike.

The unions on Saturday announced the suspension of their ongoing strike for a period of two months.

SSANU’s national president, Muhammed Ibrahim disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

“Yes, we have suspended the strike for a period of two months”, Ibrahim told Saturday PUNCH via a telephone call.

Like the Academic Staff Union of Universities, SSANU and NASU had also embarked on strike.

The unions had called for the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment of earned allowances, usurpation of non-academic career positions by vice-chancellors, the inclusion of university staff school into the university community, non-payment of minimum wage arrears, and funding of state universities.

A committee set up by the Federal Government and headed by the Emeritus Professor, Nimi Briggs had engaged in negotiations with the two unions.

Though Ibrahim did not disclose the demands of the unions which had been met, the minister of education, Adamu Adamu during a press briefing with state house correspondents last Thursday noted that the government had reached agreements with all the university based unions except ASUU which the minister claimed was requesting for payment of backlog of salaries.

The strike by SSANU and NASU has led to suspension in the issuance of academic transcripts; mobilisation of graduates for the compulsory one year service organized by the National Youth Service Corps.