The Federal Government says members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) will get half of their withheld salaries should President Bola Tinubu approve the payment of their arrears.
Tahir Mamman, Education Minister who stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, argued that NASU and SSANU were not on strike for the same period in 2022 as their academic counterparts, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Recall that in March, SSANU and NASU members embarked on a one-week warning strike to protest their withheld salaries by the Federal Government.
The two unions faulted the Federal Government for paying withheld salaries to ASUU while neglecting the non-academic unions.
In reaction, the Education Minister said the government has been “doing everything possible to get a relief for them.”
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Asked what has delayed the payment to the non-academic members, he said, “No, it has not been approved.”
“There is a court judgement on no work, no pay. ASUU getting four months’ pay was actually a discretion and decision on the part of the President. So, it doesn’t automatically transfer (to NASU and SSANU) but the matter is under consideration.”
Speaking on time specificity to the payment of the non-academic varsity staff members, Mamman said, “I don’t think it is safe to put a time on it but it’s safer to say that we are on it and we are pushing.
“And in any case, the non-academic staff, they were not on strike for the same period with the academic staff — about four months or so. So, if they are getting payment, it is going to be half of that (payment), if the President will follow his precedent with the academic staff.”
On the claim of discrimination by NASU and SSANU, the minister said, “That cannot be right, there is no rating. These are people working in the same terrain, they are doing different things but all working towards the same goal.
“I believe what happened was a communication problem, it wasn’t deliberate to exclude them from that benefit.”
