NASU, SSANU, NAAT fault allocation of funds Normal life and academic activities in Nigeria’s universities will be disrupted by workers’ industrial action from today.The three non-academic staff unions have declared a trade dispute over failure of government to keep to the terms of its own agreement with the workers
.
The industrial action is coming at a time teachers, under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), have returned to the classroom after a series of disputes with the Federal Government over previously agreed welfare packages and funding.
Non-teaching staff are now raising the same issues. President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Mr. Samson Igwoke, who also chairs the Joint Action Committee of the three unions — comprising SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) — said in Abuja yesterday that the strike would begin in all Federal Government-owned universities today (Monday). Igwoke explained that government had not shown seriousness in addressing the same issues that forced the workers to call an industrial action on September11, 2017. Chief among the complaints lodged by the workers were government’s failure to implement the December 5, 2016 judgment of the National Industrial Court on university staff schools, payment of arrears of earned allowances, arrears of salary shortfalls and funding.
The unions said there were discrepancies in allocation of funds, a gap that was “pointedly” brought to the attention of government but had not been acknowledged by the Ministry of Education.
“For the first time in the history of fund allocations to federal universities, the ministry of Education allocated funds to both the universities and their unions.”
Igwoke alleged. He said, “there is disquiet among non-academic unions” regarding the parameters used in arriving at the sharing formula. For example the unions wondered how the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) got N328 million, while the University of Ibadan was given N105 million (less than one third of FUTA’s).There is even more disquiet on the fate of the University of Lagos which was allocated N23 million.
“The questions that the unions are asking are: Is the staff strength of non-teaching staff in FUTA bigger than that of UI? Or is it that FUTA has 15 times the number of non-teaching staff in University of Lagos?”
The Federal Government had approved N23 billion for payment of arrears of earned allowances of teaching and non-teaching staff in federal universities. It was then agreed that the trade unions under JAC would update the templates already given to the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) and submit them to the Federal Ministry of Education by Thursday September 21, 2017.
The workers also explained that, two months after a memorandum of settlement was signed, the situation that necessitated the strike in September remained unchanged.In declaring the strike, the unions said:
“Having considered the sorry situation we find ourselves vis-a-vis the brazen injustice being meted out to us and the refusal of Government to respect the contents of the Memorandum of Terms of Settlements reached with our Unions on the September 20, 2017, we are constrained to inform you that effective 12.00 midnight of Sunday 3rd December 2017, the Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU shall be resuming its earlier suspended strike.
“The strike action shall be comprehensive and total. There shall be no provision of services, either on skeletal or ad hoc basis. This strike, like others before it, is not our making or desire. No responsible union goes on strike without considering its implications on the system. However, we find ourselves in a sorry plight where strike appears to be the only option.”
The unions had, in announcing the suspension of their previous industrial action on September 21, 2017, given a one-month moratorium within which the Federal Government should address their concerns or they would return to the trenches.
The three unions subsequently resumed work on Monday, September 25, 2017.Monday’s return to the path of war will halt academic work in universities as long as the industrial action lasts, especially as all academic records and home-keeping activities for teachers and students would be kept on hold.
More people are reading FRAYOKIT NEWS than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t achieved as you may think – we want to keep doing our best. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
To receive more updates from Frayokit News, kindly SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER or follow us on FACEBOOK and on TWITTER
For inquiries, adverts placement and news tip off, kindly call +2348083720023, +2348073006684 or send us email on: obeyafriday@gmail.com
Add Frayokit News On BBM. Pin: 5C130E7E or add us on WhatsApp. WhatsApp number: 08083720023
Non-teaching staff are now raising the same issues. President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Mr. Samson Igwoke, who also chairs the Joint Action Committee of the three unions — comprising SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) — said in Abuja yesterday that the strike would begin in all Federal Government-owned universities today (Monday). Igwoke explained that government had not shown seriousness in addressing the same issues that forced the workers to call an industrial action on September11, 2017. Chief among the complaints lodged by the workers were government’s failure to implement the December 5, 2016 judgment of the National Industrial Court on university staff schools, payment of arrears of earned allowances, arrears of salary shortfalls and funding.
The unions said there were discrepancies in allocation of funds, a gap that was “pointedly” brought to the attention of government but had not been acknowledged by the Ministry of Education.
“For the first time in the history of fund allocations to federal universities, the ministry of Education allocated funds to both the universities and their unions.”
Igwoke alleged. He said, “there is disquiet among non-academic unions” regarding the parameters used in arriving at the sharing formula. For example the unions wondered how the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) got N328 million, while the University of Ibadan was given N105 million (less than one third of FUTA’s).There is even more disquiet on the fate of the University of Lagos which was allocated N23 million.
“The questions that the unions are asking are: Is the staff strength of non-teaching staff in FUTA bigger than that of UI? Or is it that FUTA has 15 times the number of non-teaching staff in University of Lagos?”
The Federal Government had approved N23 billion for payment of arrears of earned allowances of teaching and non-teaching staff in federal universities. It was then agreed that the trade unions under JAC would update the templates already given to the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) and submit them to the Federal Ministry of Education by Thursday September 21, 2017.
The workers also explained that, two months after a memorandum of settlement was signed, the situation that necessitated the strike in September remained unchanged.In declaring the strike, the unions said:
“Having considered the sorry situation we find ourselves vis-a-vis the brazen injustice being meted out to us and the refusal of Government to respect the contents of the Memorandum of Terms of Settlements reached with our Unions on the September 20, 2017, we are constrained to inform you that effective 12.00 midnight of Sunday 3rd December 2017, the Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU shall be resuming its earlier suspended strike.
“The strike action shall be comprehensive and total. There shall be no provision of services, either on skeletal or ad hoc basis. This strike, like others before it, is not our making or desire. No responsible union goes on strike without considering its implications on the system. However, we find ourselves in a sorry plight where strike appears to be the only option.”
The unions had, in announcing the suspension of their previous industrial action on September 21, 2017, given a one-month moratorium within which the Federal Government should address their concerns or they would return to the trenches.
The three unions subsequently resumed work on Monday, September 25, 2017.Monday’s return to the path of war will halt academic work in universities as long as the industrial action lasts, especially as all academic records and home-keeping activities for teachers and students would be kept on hold.
FRAYOKIT NEWS NEED YOUR HELP
More people are reading FRAYOKIT NEWS than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t achieved as you may think – we want to keep doing our best. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
FRAYOKIT NEWS is spending a lot of time, money, resources in both our correspondents and managing of our domain server.
We really need your help to keep our services steady. You can help us with as little as $1-$10 a month
Donate in bitcoin to FRAYOKIT NEWS wallet address:
1JNpEFuA2rFJqLWpYojLaUgzEdPoZ5KtwM
Or direct deposit and transfer to FRAYOKIT NEWS CEO's account: Account Name: Obeya Friday | Account Number: 2056908200 | Bank Name: United Bank of Africa (UBA)
Thanks for supporting us!
To receive more updates from Frayokit News, kindly SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER or follow us on FACEBOOK and on TWITTERFor inquiries, adverts placement and news tip off, kindly call +2348083720023, +2348073006684 or send us email on: obeyafriday@gmail.com
Add Frayokit News On BBM. Pin: 5C130E7E or add us on WhatsApp. WhatsApp number: 08083720023
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All rights reserved. This material and any other material on this site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from FRAYOKIT NEWS