Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institution, NASU, of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest.
The protesters marched from the Secretariat of the unions to the Senate building on the campus with placards carrying inscriptions such as, “Let the federal university breathe”, “We are workers and not slaves, the union is our rights”, “Tinubu pay our 4 months salary”, “Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”, “Save the workers from poverty and hunger”, “FG pay us our Earned Allowance”, and “FG don’t suffocate us”.
The protest led by the NASU chairman, Samson Edivri, alongside Rotimi Fasunwon, the SSANU Chairman, said the demonstration followed the federal government’s failure to pay their four months withheld salaries and earned allowance among others.
They explained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last February, promised his administration’s commitment to meeting the demands of SSANU.
Speaking to newsmen, Ediviri explained that the protest is to urge President Bola Tinubu to honor their agreements and pay the withheld four months’ salary.
“We are using this protest to call on the Nigeria University Commission, NUC, the Minister of Education, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to ensure that all our agreements are honoured and our four months’ salary arrears should be paid.
“Non-academic workers are key to the running of universities and we don’t deserve this treatment. We recently lost a member at FUNAAB and many of us are just managing to survive.
“The struggle is for the benefit of all workers of the varsity and this protest as directed by the national bodies of SSANU and NASU, is to demand the payment of our four months withheld salaries, earned allowances, and 23.5% salary increment for non-academic staff of universities”, Ediviri stated.
The SSANU Chairman, Fasunwon, chastised the FG for failing to carry out the 2009 agreement’s provisions regarding the Memoranda of Action, which include the payment of earned allowances and a 23.5% wage increase for non-academic staff.
He added that a mega rally will be staged at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, in Abuja by the joint action committee of both unions on July 18, 2024.
Addressing the protesters, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Olusola Kehinde praised the union leadership for planning a nonviolent demonstration to highlight their demands.
He assured them that their rights would never be withheld by the university administration saying, “Your welfare will continue to be paramount to us” in addition to the university’s support for the rightful struggle of nonacademic workers.
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