Withheld Salaries: FG Meets SSANU, NASU Today Over Strike

The Federal Government will today (Wednesday) meet with the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions, ThePUNCH reports.

The National President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, in a message on Tuesday, told our correspondent:

“They invited us for a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday),” Ibrahim said in a terse message sent to our correspondent.

SSANU and NASU commenced a seven-day nationwide strike on Monday to protest the refusal of the Federal Government to release their four-month salaries withheld by the Federal Government in 2021 because they embarked on a strike.

The government of then President Muhammadu Buhari withheld the salaries, insisting on the principle of ‘No work; no pay’.

However, the current administration of President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of the withheld salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, who were also affected by the past administration’s ‘no work; no pay’stance.

SSANU and NASU were, however, displeased to be left out.

They wrote to the Tinubu government, asking that their withheld salaries be equally released.

The government, however, ignored the repeated demands, following which the two unions embarked on a strike.

The PUNCH reports that the seven-day warning strike, which began on Monday, grounded academic activities on university campuses across the country.