By Gabriel Dike

A major strike by the non-academic staff in the nation’s universities is looming as the Joint Action Committee (JAC) made of three unions has mandated its branches to conduct referendum to decide the next line of action.

JAC made comprises of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) met in Abuja on Wednesday and directed branches to conduct referendum on the impending strike.

Currently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members nationwide with the exception of four institutions are on indefinite strike to protest the non-implementation of the demands including the 2009 signed agreement between the federal government (FG) and ASUU.

SSANU National Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abdussobur Salaam confirmed the directive to the branches of the three non academic staff unions to hold referendum on whether to resume the January 2017 suspended strike.

Salaam gave reasons for the impending strike to include the implementation of the January 18, 2017 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the union and the FG government on ten contentious issues when JAC members embarked on strike early this year.

Already, some of the branch chairmen who confirmed receipt of the directive from their various leaders have fixed between Friday and Monday to conduct the referendum