Varsity
workers, under the auspices of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian
(SSANU) and other non-teaching staff in the university are set to begin
what they term 'a mother of all strikes' any moment from now if the
President Muhammadu Buhari government fails to call to order the
National Universities Commission (NUC) and stops the plan to remove the
university staff school from the budget of various federal universities.
The
SSANU President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, while addressing a press
conference at the SSANU headquarters at the University of Abuja on
Tuesday, said the union has already mobilised all its members from the
states to federal level to prepare for a prolonged strike.
The
NUC had come out with a circular direction the management of all
universities to stop the funding of the staff schools, classifying them
as private schools.
The commission also said that SSANU and
other university based unions were aware of the decision taken on the
issue and should know where to direct their grievances, adding that
their grouse should be directed to Salaries and Wages Commission.
But
the SSANU president regretted that the NUC Executive Secretary,
Professor Julius Okojie, should be telling Nigerians lies over the issue
of the staff school which, according to them, are demonstrative
schools.
He pointed out that with the position of NUC and the
offending circular, if President Buhari failed to stop the NUC, the
strike is imminent as all the varsity workers have been mobilised and
ready.
"SSANU has a way of handling its matter. We have started
from the branches to the zones, the strategising and campaign is going
all over the country; calling the attention of government to do one
thing, that is to do the needful and what is right. This press
conference may be the end, you will not hear from us until we take
action. So, strike is imminent," he said.
He pointed out that
SSANU was not the only union in the struggle, adding that both National
Association of Academic Technology (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff
Union of Universities and other Tertiary Institution (NASU) are in the
struggle and that they jointly wrote to government.
SSANU said over 2,000 teachers would lose their jobs if the Federal Government scrapped the staff schools across the country.
Credit: Soji-Eze Fabemi/Nigerian Tribune
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