Varsity unions begin strike today

From Frank Ikpefan, AbujaNon-teaching staff in the universities will begin an indefinite strike today.It is over the Federal Governments handling of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), sharing formula of the N40 billion earned academic allowances and non-payment of arrears of the new minimum wage.National Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions have written their branches to commence strike from today.A copy of the notice signed by SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, and NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, was sent to our correspondent yesterday by President of SSANU.The non-teaching staff in the universities had announced that they would commence Strike on February 5 following the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands.Other demands include the non-payment of retirement benefits to former members, non-constitution of visitation panels to universities, poor funding of universities, teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units, among others.In a bid to stop the workers from embarking on strike, the Federal Government team led by Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, met with the leadership of the unions but the meeting ended in a deadlock on Tuesday.Mr Adeyemi, who said the meeting failed to address most of the issues, added that the union leadership doesnt have the powers to unilaterally calloff the proposed strike.He said five of its demands have not been attended to by the Federal Government while committees were only set up to address the issues of IPPIS.Following the inability of the government to avert the strike through the meeting, a committee was set up to resolve the dispute over the N40 billion earned allowances and complaints about IPPIS.Part of the notice read: In view of the outcome of the meeting, the leadership of JAC of NASU and SSANU at the branches are hereby directed to commence joint general meetings on Friday to give reports on the outcome of the conciliation meeting and pass resolutions on the way forward.In the meantime, the nationwide strike takes effect from 12 midnight, Friday, February 5, 2021, pending any contrary resolution by the branches.The JAC had embarked on a three-day protest over the governments failure to honour the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the unions on October 20, 2020.
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