Nigerian university workers, under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), have again warned the federal government against paralysing academic activities in tertiary institutions with the non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) both parties signed.
SSANU decried the growing insecurity across tertiary institutions in the country, saying none of its members is safe again.
The workers, who spoke through their President, Mohammed Ibrahim Haruna, shortly after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that was held in Abuja weekend, said that only three out of eight demands have been addressed partially by the government.
He said that the suspended strike may resume soon if the issue of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and others continue to make SSANU members poorer than expected is not quickly addressed.
The leadership of the unions had on February 5 directed all its branches to commence strike with a view to pressing home their demands bordering on alleged injustice on sharing formula of N40 billion Earned Allowance and non-payment of minimum wage arrears.
Other contentious issues raised included inconsistencies in the implementation of the IPPIS, delay in renegotiation of FG/NASU and SSANU 2009 agreement, non-payment of retirement benefits of out gone members among others.
On the issue of growing insecurity, SSANU demanded that the federal government should license the use of guns for local security on various campuses to protect the institutions.
SSANU said the measure will help all the security agencies which are already overwhelmed with different security challenges such as banditry, kidnapping, cultists’ clashes, terrorism and other criminality ravaging the country.
SSANU’s alarm came a few hours after the students and staff of Greenfield University, Kaduna, a private university in Kaduna State, regained their freedom from their abductors after paying huge amounts of money and motorcycles as ransom.
“We are here to deliberate on a wide range of issues. Topmost among those issues are the security of our members who work in the university environment. Our members can’t travel freely, they can’t move around with ease, anytime they do so, they get kidnapped. This is unacceptable!
“We are calling on the federal government to license our security men on campuses who are our members, train and re-train them from time to time and monitor them. By doing this, security challenges in our institutions will reduce,” Haruna said this while addressing journalists after the meeting.
