Administrative activities were brought to a halt on Monday at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, when non-teaching staff of the institution joined the nationwide five-day warning strike.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workers, operating under the aegis of Joint Action committee (JAC), were asking the Federal Government to release N30b for the payment of earned allowances for members in public universities.
The striking workers were also demanding the “Re-negotiating of 2009 agreement with Federal Government and integrating of University primary school teachers into government payroll.”
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Speaking during the UNN congress, the Chairman of UNN-JAC, Mr Paul Eruah, said that the warning strike commenced on Monday and asked the non-teaching staff of the institution to go home.
Eruah said that the 14-day ultimatum issued to the federal government by JAC national secretariat expired on August 18.
“After this congress, go home and come back on Monday, August 27, when we will declare an indefinite nationwide strike, if the federal government fails to yield to our demand,” he said.
He said that the union had set up a monitoring committee to ensure strict compliance with the strike, adding that defaulters would be sanctioned.
“Any non-teaching staff seen in any office will be sanctioned. Do not be afraid of victimisation from government or university management because the national body is behind you,” he said.
Eruah said that the essence of the action was to force the government to meet their demand.
A cross-section of the students interviewed by NAN urged the federal government and relevant stakeholders to quickly intervene to resolve the problem.
The respondents warned that an indefinite strike by non-teaching staff would adversely affect the current academic calendar.
NAN reports that no fewer than 1000 non-teaching staff in UNN attended the congress. (NAN)