More Trouble For Nigerian Students As SSANU, NASU Declare Two-Week Strike

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) have declared a two-week warning strike, beginning from Monday.

The development may compound the crisis at the Nigerian universities following the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Recall that ASUU on March 14, at the expiration of its four-week warning strike which it declared on Monday, February 14, extended the industrial action by two months.

The union led by Professor Emmanuel Osodeke said it made the decision to extend the strike so as to give the Federal Government and its agencies enough time to meet the lingering demands of the union.

Both SSANU and NASU have equally toed the same path after a two-week warning strike was declared on Friday.

This followed what the unions described as the failure of the Nigerian government to react to its letter earlier issued threatening to down tools.

The notice is contained in a memo addressed to the leadership of the unions’ branches nationwide and dated March 25, 2022.

The memo by JAC, which was signed by SSANU president, Mohammed Ibrahim, and NASU general secretary, Peters Adeyemi, is titled; “Commencement of Two-Week Warning Strike.”

It reads in part “In view of the nonchalant attitude of the government to our demands, this is to direct our members in all universities and inter-university centres throughout the country to commence a two-week strike by midnight of Sunday, 27 March, 2022, in the first instance as earlier conveyed to the federal government in our letter.

“Please note that the two-week warning strike should be comprehensive and total as no concession should be given under any guise.

“Your strict compliance and adherence to this directive is mandatory for all branches of NASU and SSANU in the universities and inter-university centres.”

In a letter addressed to the office of the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, and dated March 16, 2022, JAC of SSANU and NASU, had accused the government of insincerity in its implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached with the government in October 2020 and February 2021 respectively.

The letter, written at the end of a meeting to review the situation and signed by both Messrs Adeyemi and Ibrahim, gave the Nigerian government up till March 27 to address its demands or face an initial two-weeks strike.

JAC had given two weeks ultimatum to the government to implement the said demands, while it issued ‘red alerts’ to its members, asking them to prepare for a possible showdown with the government.