SSANU warns of another strike in varsities

By Ogochukwu Anioke, AbakalikiThe Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has warned of another looming strike across universities.It blamed the Presidency for the incessant strike in universities, warning workers and various unions will go on another strike soon until the right things are done.The Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike kw(AE-FUNAI) chapter of SSANU gave the warning while presenting its memoranda to the schools visitation panel.Presenting the associations memoranda to the panels Chairman, Amb Usman Sariki, the AE-FUNAI SSANU chairman, Emma Chigbata, said university system is dying in the country.He identified poor funding as well as divide- and -rule system by the Federal government in its dealings with various unions as some of the reasons for the rot in the system.The Federal Government has no respect for agreements. Many agreements it entered into with various unions none of them have been fulfilled, he said.Read Also:SSANU faults NUCs suspension of UNIJOS Vice-Chancellorship raceHe warned if the situation is not properly handled, it may lead to break down of law and order in the universities.Very soon students will rise against staff and teachers because of incessant strikes, he warned.Chigbata expression pessimism at the ability of the visitation panels set up for all the Federal government universities to solve the problem.He also lamented workers salaries were slashed following the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) by the Federal government.IPPIS slashed the salary of workers. It is now peanuts. Staff cannot afford to feed and pay house rents. Staff now borrow money to feed and take care of their needs, he lamented.Responding, Amb Saraki said the panel is not an investigative panel but a fact-finding panel.We are not here to witch hunt anybody but to find out the true situation of things and advice government appropriately on how to improve the university system, he said.
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