Education
DELSU: SSANU, NASU Blast FG, Fault Sharing Formula For N30Bn Released To ASUU
By Daniel Dafe
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSAANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, have taken a swipe at the Buhari-led government over the treatment meted out on three of the four university workers’ unions, saying that the government’s approach of tackling the challenges in universities will create more problems and not deal with the issues so far raised.
Recall that the Federal Government recently struck a deal with the Academic Staff
of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) after a 9-month strike by the union that was called off after the Buhari government promised to release the sum of N30bilion to ASUU as payment of arrears of earned allowances, saying that SSANU, NASU and NAAT will get 25 percent of the said fund.
Non-teaching staff unions have since commenced a 3-day nationwide protest and will begin an indefinite strike on Friday.
Speaking to journalists during a protest by DELSU SSANU and NASU on Monday, Chairman of SSANU, Comrade Izu Monday, called on the federal government of Nigeria not to kill the university system
His words: “By our opinion, what the Federal Government is doing is tantamount to weakening, destroying, and decimating whatsoever good the university system stands for in the country.
“Education that is known as the pillar of development is the same education that the federal government is treating as a wrap of excreta. What we mean is that a federal government that wants result, made up its mind to pay the arrears of earned allowances that they owe workers. The Federal Government approved and chose to give 75 percent of that money to a segment of the university called academic staff.
“Out of the four groups of workers in the university besides ASUU, we have SSANU, NAAT and NASU. This means that what the FG means is that the non-teaching staff in the universities all put together amounts to a paltry 25 percent of the system. This is a false representation of the facts.
“We are therefore calling on the federal government to reverse that obnoxious, degrading and unacceptable decision.”
Continuing, he said: “The non-teaching staff represented by SSANU, NAAT and NASU reject the 25 percent of the 30 billion. Till date, earned allowances are yet to be implemented for Federal Universities,” as he called on the FG to implement it.
“Besides that, it will surprise you to know that the agreement we signed with the FG dated 2009 that ought to have been reviewed within three years till now is yet to be done because the FG is dragging its feet. We call on the FG to come to a negotiation table immediately and let us review that outdated agreement in 2009 and without further delay,” he added.