The Senior Staff Association of the Nigerian Universities
has called for an indefinite strike on December 24, 2015 to protest a recent
decision of the Federal Government to sack 2,000 university workers across the
country by January, 2016.
The National President of SSANU, Mr. Samson Ugwoke, said
during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday that the National Salaries, Income
and Wages Commission, and the National Universities Commission had written
letters of termination to 2,000 members of staff of the universities.
Ugwoke said that the senior staff union of the universities
had already dispatched letters to the Ministry of Education, the NUC and the
National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission to withdraw the letters of
termination issued to varsity workers of the University of Ilorin, Federal
University of Technology, Akure, Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto and others.
He said that SSANU also urged the Education Ministry and the
other agencies to ensure immediate withdrawal of similar letters to vice
chancellors to terminate the appointment of personnel of university staff
primary schools.
He said the letter dated December 17, 2015 also copied
President Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Senate, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, the Minister of Labour and
Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and others.
Ugwoke added that the 2,000 workers affected in the planned
retrenchment exercise were drawn from 31 universities and were employed by the
councils of the various institutions to make the requisite contribution to
educational development in the institutions and the society over the years.
The SSANU leader noted that the directive to sack the
workers who are expected to leave service in January 2016 was contained in a
circular said to have been written and signed by a Deputy Director in the
Ministry of Education, Mr. E.O Fayemi, on behalf of the minister.
He stated further that the circular dated April 21, 2015,
was attached with a memorandum and report from the National Salaries, Income
and Wages Commission dated March 2014 and February 2014 respectively.
According to him, the commission responded to the circular
by directing the removal of personnel of staff schools and other institutions
affiliated to the universities from the payroll.
He said, “The implementation of this directive would be a
gross violation and breach of the SSANU/FGN 2009 Agreement, which explicitly
stated that the University shall bear full capital and recurrent cost of
University Staff primary schools.
“It is further shocking to note that till date, the Federal
Ministry of Defence still funds the capital and recurrent costs of over 100
Army Children Schools, Command Children Schools, Navy Primary Schools and Air
Force Schools; while the Ministry of Police Affairs still funds its Police
Children Schools, all from the Federal Treasury.
“We are surprised that an agency of government, the National
Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, could continue with this callous,
wicked, insensitive and ill-intentioned agenda, despite our calls, letters,
press releases and publications on the issue.
“With the advent of the administration of President
Muhammadu Buhari, we had written series of public and confidential letters on
same with no positive response.”
He said that 90 per cent of the pupils of the university
staff schools were children of the staff of the institutions stressing that the
schools were established alongside other academic components of the
universities in some cases.
The unionist said SSANU had to give the December 24, 2015
deadline to the Federal Government as part of the efforts to prevent the over
2000 workers of the universities from being sacked.
Several efforts by Saturday PUNCH to get the response of
ASUU National President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, was resisted because he said, “I am
out of the country and you don’t expect me to answer you from abroad.”
Also when contacted, the Special Assistant (Media) to the
Minister of State for Education, Anthony Akuneme, directed our correspondent to
the office of the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu.
But several calls and SMS to the Assistant Director of Press
in the Education Ministry, Abdul Onu, were not replied.
No comments:
Post a Comment