FG to Pay ASUU Four Months of Withheld Salaries, Non-Teaching Staff Protest

The Federal Government has decided to pay the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) the four months of withheld salaries that resulted from their eight-month strike in 2022. However, this decision has sparked outrage among the non-teaching staff unions in the universities, who claim they are being discriminated against and neglected by the government.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has written a protest letter to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajiabiamila, warning of the implications of the government’s exclusionary policy. The letter, dated February 13, 2024, stated that the peaceful atmosphere in the universities and inter-university centers could not be guaranteed if the government failed to pay their members their four months of outstanding salaries like the academic staff.

The letter also recalled that NASU and SSANU had embarked on a five-month strike in 2022 to draw the government’s attention to issues relating to the corporate governance of the universities and the welfare of their members. Despite assurances from government officials, including the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity and the Minister of Education, promises of equal treatment for all university unions have not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile, some lecturers who are members of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), a breakaway faction of ASUU, have reportedly received their eight-month salary backlog from the government. CONUA had refused to join the ASUU strike and had opted to enroll in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which ASUU had rejected.

ASUU had suspended its strike in December 2023, after reaching an agreement with the government on the implementation of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative payment platform to IPPIS. However, the government had yet to release the withheld salaries to ASUU members as of February 2024.

The government’s decision to pay ASUU four months of withheld salaries has been seen as a move to appease the union and prevent another strike, as the agreement reached in December 2023 had not been fully implemented. However, this decision has also created a rift among the university unions, who are demanding fair and equitable treatment from the government.