Leadership of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of both the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of the Universities (NASU).has finally suspended its three weeks strike
The suspension which takes effect from this Friday was announced on Thursday, following the signing of a Memorandum of Action with the Federal Government team.
Both unions under the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU commenced an indefinite strike last February 5, over the failure of the Federal Government to resolve issues in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System(IPPIS) as well as that of sharing formular for the N40 billion earned academic allowances between teaching and non-teaching staff and non-payment of arrears of the new minimum wage, among others.
Edu-Biznews recalled that the two unions embarked on the Industrial action shortly after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its nine months strike.
The Federal Government team led by Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige, NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi,at a news conference after the meeting, said the unions agreed to suspend the national strike after extracting some concessions from the government.
Adeyemi explained that the unions' demand have been harmonised to the satisfaction of both parties.
He vowed that they would continue to monitor the agreements reached with the government, to ensure their implementation inline with the agreed timeline
His words: “We had eight items which we negotiated and which formed the basis for our ongoing national strike.
“Our members in our various campuses in the universities and inter-universities centres had appraised the draft MoU and then raised the few observations, but they granted us the mandate that if we are able to meet with the government which we have been able to do today(Thursday) and if the leadership is satisfied, we can go ahead and suspend the strike", Adeyemi stated .
“We use this opportunity to appreciate our members for their commitment in this struggle, this strike is suspended and we are not mindful of the fact that we will continue to monitor the agreements that have been reached which has timeline and we hope that the FG we implement its own side of the bargain.
“If the FG doesn’t, we have no reason but to call our members to resume the suspended strike but for now, the strike is suspended with effect from this Friday”
Adeyemi threatened that the union would resume the suspended strike if the government fails to implement all the agreements reached.
Also speaking the Minister of Labour and Employment, said both parties had reached agreements on all the grey areas in the former negotiation .
The Minister described as fruitful, the issues addressed at the meeting with the Joint Action Committee of the two unions .
His words,“If you remember, this is about the fourth negotiation we are having on the matters brought by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of both unions and today’s deliberation has been very fruitful.
“We have issued a conciliation document, a Memorandum of Action (MOA) and the two unions will get back to their members today with the MOA. They have in good faith promised to revert to the government in the next 48 hours",Ngige stated .
“So, we keep our fingers crossed, believing that their communication with their union members will be as quick and swift as they have promised us, more so when the government is desirous of the return of normal activities to the university system, so that we can take the actions, one after the other,” the minister said.
Ngige assured that government would follow up the agreement reached, with the visitation panels which can only be achieved,when normalcy returns to the university system
He appreciated that the unions and the government side for responding to an emergency meeting convened within 24 hours and coming out with very positive results.
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