SSANU, NASU ground UI, threaten to occupy Aso Rock [PHOTOS]

Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU, University of Ibadan branches on Monday began a five-day protest to demand N30billion earned allowance and Federal Government’s refusal to obey court judgment on staff school’s salaries.

The peaceful protest, which drew scores of affected workers to the main gate of the institution, affected smooth vehicular movements in and out of the school premises.

The protesting workers, who were armed with placards with inscriptions like: “We demand N30 billion to pay part of our earned allowance now”; FG stop provoking inter union crises in Nigerian universities”; FG, please obey court judgment on staff school,” among others, disclosed that the five-day protest would be followed by a demonstration which would see the unions occupy the Aso Rock.

SSANU Chairman, Dr. Wale Akinremi, who was flanked by other union leaders, said any nation that treats teachers the way “we treat ours in Nigeria will never be destined for greatness”.

Akinremi said the five-day protest would be followed by a branch protest and the ‘mother of all protests’ at the national level which would shake the corridors of power to its foundation.

Recall that the national bodies of both unions had frowned at the alleged preferential treatment extended to ASUU by the Federal Government as seen in the allocation of 80 percent of released monies, leaving the non academic staff with 20 per cent.

In a resolution reached after its meeting, read by the Chairman of JAC and National President of SSANU, Comrade Samson Ugwuoke, the non teaching university workers rejected the 20 per cent earned allowance allocated to the three non teaching unions.

JAC called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, release N30 billion Earned Allowance of non teaching staff within the period of 2009 to 2016.

Ugwuoke, who stressed that the protest was aimed at sending a notice of strike to the Federal Government, called on its members to ensure full compliance with the directive in order to show its relevance to the university system.

He said, “The recent sharing of money where the money collected from the ministry of education signed by the director of tertiary education, allocating 80 percent of the money to ASUU and only 20 percent to the three non teaching staff unions is not acceptable to us.

“We reject in total the 20 percent allocated to our members, rather we demand from the federal government the sum of N30 billion as part of the earned allowance of non teaching staff from 2009 to 2016 and we call on government to hasten the audit of university earned allowances so that we will now how much is paid to who and how much remains.

“The way and manner the money is being shared contrary to any known accounting procedure, any known international best practice should be condemned by all, it is rather a fraud. This house calls it a fraud and calls for investigation.

“We call and demand that government should release as a matter of urgency, N30 billion for non teaching staff

“JAC has approved protests from the branches, protests at the zonal levels of our unions and mother of all protests in Abuja for three days, before a deadline is given to the government for the mother of all strikes that will follow. The protest will commence on Monday 15th July 2019.”