From Maduabuchi Nmeribeh, Kano
The joint Committee of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), on Monday resolved to embark on a 14-day nationwide warning strike as directed by their national leadership.
The AUTHORITY reports that the two unions embarked on the strike with a view to complying the directive of the national joint action committee of SSANU and NASU, which had last week directed all University branches to comply.
Speaking on the industrial action, Chairman of SSANU in BUK, Dr. Haruna Aliyu, said, “it was imperative to embark on the strike action because of the government’s attitude in handling the Integrated Personal Payroll Information System (IPPIS) which has subjected our members to an untold hardship for many months.”
According to him, “the government had initially trapped the unions to join the payment system which it assured that all the peculiarities of the university would be captured. “But to our chagrin, the reverse is the case, as members have since February 2020 been witnessing irregularities and inconsistencies in their salaries. No one knows one’s exact salary. ”
He further stated that, “other issues that pushed the unions to embark on the strike include non-payment of arrears of earned allowances being owed NASU and SSANU members despite various memoranda of understanding; non-payment of arrears of national minimum wage to their members and non-payment of retirement benefits to retired members.”
He, however, urged all the unions to remain at home and respect the decisions reached on the strike action, noting that, “if after the expiration of the two weeks without any concrete step from the government, there would be no alternative than to embark on a full blown indefinite strike action that would ground Nigerian Universities.”
