The Federal Government will today (Thursday) meet the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions.
The meeting to be held at the Office of the Minister of Education is aimed at forestalling a strike by the unions.
The meeting is coming on the heels of the expiration of a two-week ultimatum the Joint Action Committee, JAC, of SSANU and NASU issued to the Federal Government to pay them their four-month withheld salaries or they would shut down universities.
The Federal Government had through the Ministry of Labour and Employment invoked the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy when the four university-based unions embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022.
But President Bola Tinubu in October last year granted amnesty to the university workers and directed that four months of the withheld salaries should be paid.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had also said the payment was for all the university workers who participated in the strike.
While the Academic Staff Union of Universities has been paid their four months withheld salaries as directed by President Tinubu, the other three unions, the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, are yet to receive their payment, a development that has generated tension and threat to down tools.
In a desperate move to avert the looming strike, our correspondent gathered that the government has fixed a meeting with SSANU and NASU by 1 pm on Thursday to address the contentious issues
A source privy to the meeting said, “The Minister of Education has called to meet with SSANU and NASU tomorrow (today) maybe to persuade us not to go on strike. We will honour the invitation. We are also going to meet with the Minister of State for Labour and Employment by 3 pm tomorrow (Thursday).”
It was also gathered that the JAC of SSANU and NASU had scheduled to meet by 10 am on Thursday before going for the meeting.
Recall that the JAC had planned to meet on July 4, after the expiration of the two-week ultimatum to review the response of the government to their demands and declare an indefinite strike if the government refused to pay the withheld salaries.