The vice president of the association, Dr Abdussobuur Salaam disclosed this in a telephone interview with SaharaReporters on Monday afternoon.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has threatened to embark on a fresh industrial action over the government’s failure to pay their withheld salaries.
The vice president of the association, Dr Abdussobuur Salaam disclosed this in a telephone interview with SaharaReporters on Monday afternoon.
Salaam revealed that none of his colleagues nationwide had received their withheld salaries of May, June, July, and August 2022 from the government despite paying two months’ salary to their academic counterparts under the umbrella of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
SaharaReporters earlier reported that some ASUU members had received part of their withheld salaries which President Bola Tinubu promised to pay them since last October.
It was gathered further that only two out of the four months promised by the government had been paid to ASUU members while nothing was paid to SSANU members.
Salaam said, “We have not been paid. They are owing us four months, from May, June, July, August 2022. Of course, we also had an agreement with the government and they promised that they were going to pay us.
“Government is a continuum and if you have an agreement with the (Muhammadu) Buhari Government, you can’t say because it is Tinubu Government it has become abrogated. Within the limit of our engagement, we have a subsisting agreement signed in August 2022.
“And that was to the effect that our money should be paid. That was to the effect that there would salary increment of 25% and 35% depending on the categories of workers and also that there would be renegotiation of our 2009 agreement.
“Also that all issues that led to our strike would be looked into. We had an agreement with the former minister of education, Adamu Adamu and till today, that has not been implemented.
“And the agreement ended with no victimisation, which stated that no member of the union shall be denied or punished. So when you refuse to pay our salaries, what you have done is that you have denied us, you are victimising us.
“It even got worse when you decided to pay our academic counterparts and chose to leave us. This means you are only playing a divide and rule within the university system.”
Dr Salaam revealed further that SSANU had conveyed a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting slated for March 5 and 6, 2024 at Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State.
He said he was certain the NEC would not take the action of the government against SSANU members lightly.
He continued: “We are going to have a NEC meeting in two weeks, precisely between 5th and 6th(of March) in FUTA Akure. And then we shall be taking decisive action.
“But I want to sssure you that it is an issue that will not lay low.
“I don’t want to preempt the NEC but it is very sure that there would be industrial unrest in the system. That one I can tell you.”