The Senior Staff Association of
the Nigerian Universities has called for an indefinite strike
on December 24,
2015 to protest a recent decision of the Federal Government to sack 2,000
university workers across the country by January, 2016.
The National President of SSANU,
Mr. Samson Ugwoke, said during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday that the
National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, and the National Universities
Commission had written letters of termination to 2,000 members of staff of the
universities.
Ugwoke said that the senior staff
union of the universities had already dispatched letters to the Ministry of
Education, the NUC and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to
withdraw the letters of termination issued to varsity workers of the University
of Ilorin, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Usman Dan Fodio University,
Sokoto and others.
He said that SSANU also urged the
Education Ministry and the other agencies to ensure immediate withdrawal of
similar letters to vice chancellors to terminate the appointment of personnel
of university staff primary schools.
He said the letter dated December
17, 2015 also copied President Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Senate,
Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara,
the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and others.
Ugwoke added that the 2,000
workers affected in the planned retrenchment exercise were drawn from 31
universities and were employed by the councils of the various institutions to
make the requisite contribution to educational development in the institutions
and the society over the years.
The SSANU leader noted that the
directive to sack the workers who are expected to leave service in January 2016
was contained in a circular said to have been written and signed by a Deputy
Director in the Ministry of Education, Mr. E.O Fayemi, on behalf of the
minister.
He stated further that the
circular dated April 21, 2015, was attached with a memorandum and report from
the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission dated March 2014 and
February 2014 respectively.
According to him, the commission
responded to the circular by directing the removal of personnel of staff
schools and other institutions affiliated to the universities from the payroll.
He said, “The implementation of
this directive would be a gross violation and breach of the SSANU/FGN 2009
Agreement, which explicitly stated that the University shall bear full capital
and recurrent cost of University Staff primary schools.
“It is further shocking to note
that till date, the Federal Ministry of Defence still funds the capital and
recurrent costs of over 100 Army Children Schools, Command Children Schools,
Navy Primary Schools and Air Force Schools; while the Ministry of Police
Affairs still funds its Police Children Schools, all from the Federal Treasury.
“We are surprised that an agency
of government, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, could
continue with this callous, wicked, insensitive and ill-intentioned agenda,
despite our calls, letters, press releases and publications on the issue.
“With the advent of the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, we had written series of public
and confidential letters on same with no positive response.”
He said that 90 per cent of the
pupils of the university staff schools were children of the staff of the
institutions stressing that the schools were established alongside other
academic components of the universities in some cases.
The unionist said SSANU had to
give the December 24, 2015 deadline to the Federal Government as part of the
efforts to prevent the over 2000 workers of the universities from being sacked.
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