The Non Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) on Friday called on the Federal Government to release the N30 billion earned allowances to Federal institutions.
Mr. Samson Ugwoke, the National Chairman of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the two unions, who made the call in Abuja, said the call followed failure of the Federal Government to honour its pact in the agreement reached with the unions.
The unions had entered into an agreement with the Federal Government in 2009 on the payment of earned allowance to federal institutions.
He said the union rejected the allocation of only 20 per cent to JAC and 80 per cent to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and called for an immediate audit of accounts of universities.
“The recent sharing of money where the money collected from the ministry of education signed by the teaching director of tertiary education, allocating 80 per cent of the money to ASUU and only 20 per cent to the three non-teaching staff unions is not acceptable to us.
READ ALSO: Presidential tussle: PDP, Atiku miss chance to present 400 witnesses in 10 days
“We reject in total the 20 per cent allocated to our members, rather we demand from the federal government the sum of N30 billion as part of the earned allowance of non teaching staff from 2009 to 2016.
“We call on government to hasten the audit of university earned allowances, so that we will know how much is paid to who and how much remains.”
Ugwoke also said plans were on to commence a nationwide protest to demand release of the funds and setting up modalities for a re-negotiation of earned allowances from July 15.
He noted that implementation of the National Industrial Court judgement on the issue of university staff school teachers, payment of earned allowances, payment of shortfalls in salaries and funding of the university system should be paramount for effective learning atmosphere.
READ ALSO: FG seeks support for establishment of `High Performance Centres’
“JAC has approved protests from the branches, protests at the zonal levels of our unions and mother of all protests in Abuja for three days before a deadline is given to the government for the mother of all strikes that will follow.”
He also rejected the continued sideline of the non academic unions in pension fund administration by ASUU, saying what was available was an instance where university Professors would benefit more from the process.
“The National Executive Council of JAC consider the role of ASUU from the beginning of the concept of that PFA till date and found that the leadership of the non teaching staff has not been carried along.
“The way and manner from the inception to registration, constitution of board of trustees, employment have been dome by ASUU alone.
“We cannot allow our members to fund the PFA of which we are not part of, as long as the national leadership of the JAC is not involved and fully briefed and carried along in the business.”
The former Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, signed a Memorandum of the term of a settlement between the representatives of the unions and the government which culminated in the suspension of the strike in 2018. (NAN)