Magnus Eze, Abuja
Non-teaching staff of Nigerian Universities comprising the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have called off their three months old strike.
The three unions, under the platform of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), commenced an indefinite industrial action December 4, last year, in protest of Federal Government’s failure to implement their 2009 Agreement.
Other issues in contention bordered on earned allowances, usurpation of non-teaching staff jobs by academic staff, disobedience of National Industrial Court’s order on funding of staff schools as well as corruption in the university system among others.
JAC chairman, Samson Ugwoke, who addressed a press conference at NAAT National Secretariat, Abuja, on Wednesday, said the Federal Government had shown seriousness in meeting some of their demands with specific time frame.
He mentioned the payment of earned allowances, visitation panels to universities in five weeks and the staff schools as some issues that government had made commitments.
He decried government’s penchants for not keeping to agreements, adding that the industrial action could have been avoided.
Details later…