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Tag: NAAT

  • Varsity Strike : NASU,SSANU,NAAT plan to join ASUU, threaten to down tools

    Varsity Strike : NASU,SSANU,NAAT plan to join ASUU, threaten to down tools

    A total shutdown of universities in the country is looming following the decision of three university – based unions to issue a fresh strike notice to the Federal Government over non-implementation of signed agreements.

    The three university- based unions’ threat is coming barely 13 days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities declared a one month warning strike which has crippled academic activities in universities nationwide.

    The university – based unions include: the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU).

    The JAC of NASU and SSANU said at its meeting on 24 February 2022, that it had reviewed the status of the Memorandum of Understanding reached with the Federal Government following its industrial action of January and February 2021.

    While the university technologists have given the Federal Government between February 28 and March 14 to implement its demands, the Joint Action Committee comprising SSANU and NASU have put its members on “red alert” over a possible strike.

    The JAC of NASU and SSANU said it could no longer guarantee industrial peace in the university system.

    But Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige said the unions had not officially communicated their intention to embark on strike to his ministry.

    He directed the unions to get in touch with their employers – the Federal Ministry of Education on the level of implementation of the MoU.

    President of NAAT, Ibeji Nwokoma, told reporters at a briefing on Friday in Abuja that each branch of the union would hold congresses between March 15 and 16 to discuss the response of the federal government to the demands of the union.

    He added that a two-week warning strike would be declared by NAAT on March 17, 2022 at the expiration of the two week grace (February 28 – March 14) without concrete feedback from the government.

    He said: “If the government fails between February 28 and March 14 to respond to these issues, we will call a Congress from March 15 – 16. By March 17, the National Executive Council will meet and declare a warning strike.

    “The warning strike will be for two weeks after which NAAT will embark on an indefinite strike until our demands are met.

    “In the light of the above, failure on the part of the government to address all the issues raised, NAAT may be compelled to embark on an industrial action which shall be total and indefinite.

    “NAAT therefore call on all well-meaning Nigerians (traditional rulers, religious leaders, members of the National Assembly, etc) to prevail on the government to avert the looming strike action.”

    He lamented the failure of the Federal Government to fully implement signed agreements.

    The NAAT President added: “It is pertinent to know that more than twelve years after signing of agreement with NAAT concerning emolument, motivation and welfare of our members, many components of the agreement are either not implemented or partly implemented.

    In a statement jointly signed by the General Secretary, NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi and National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, the JAC said: “Having waited one whole year for the consummation of the Memorandum of Understanding and despite all peaceful entreaties, we wish to notify all stakeholders in the Nigerian universities and Inter-University Centres; and indeed all Nigerians of the possible breakdown of industrial peace in the university system borne out of disrespect for Collective Bargaining Agreements reached with NASU and SSANU by Government.

    “Given the situation of things as of today (yesterday) and the agitation of our members, we can no longer guarantee industrial peace in our university system.

    “With this release, we place all Nigerians on red alert of the possibility of an industrial action by the non-teaching staff unions of NASU and SSANU, as we can no longer watch as agreements freely entered into by the Federal Government with the unions are not respected.”

  • Panic in Nigerian universities as NAAT, NASU, SSANU resume suspended strike

    The non-academic staff unions of Nigerian universities (NASU) have resumed their suspended strike.

    The unions, members of NAAT, NASU, and SSANU, announced the resumption of the strike in a joint statement on Thursday night.

    They said the strike will resume on Monday, December 3.

    The statement was signed by the national presidents of NAAT, Sani Sulaimon; NASU, Chris Ani; and SSANU, Samson Ugwoke.

    The workers said they reject the mode of sharing the recent financial allocation to universities.

    “We wrote a letter to the federal ministry of education to explain the criteria for the allocation and we gave them seven days notice to do the needful. But the date has elapsed without a response from the federal government,” they said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the unions had earlier suspended their strike and asked their members to resume work on September 25 after signing a memorandum of understanding with the federal government.

    They gave the federal government one month to start the implementation of the agreement; but said on Thursday that the government is yet to meet their demands after two months of signing the agreement.

     

  • JUST IN: NASU, SSANU, NAAT suspend strike

    The non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities operating under the aegis of Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU; Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU and National Association of Academic Technologist, NAAT have suspended their strike.

    The staff, members of the three unions, NASU, SSANU, and NAAT, announced the suspension of the 11 days old strike on Thursday.

    Sam Ugwoke, the national president of the Joint Action Committee of three unions, announced the suspension at a media briefing in Abuja.

    Ugwoke said the strike was being suspended for a month to allow the government meet their demands.

    He enjoined government to “ensure compliance” with agreements reached with the unions.

     

  • FG reaches agreement with SSANU, NASU as unions move to suspend strike

    The Federal Government has reached an agreement with the Joint Action Committee of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU and National Association of Academic Technologist, NAAT to suspend their strike after an eight-hour meeting in Abuja.

    The SSANU President, Samson Ugwoke disclosed this after the meeting which began at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and ended 12:20 a.m. on Thursday.

    “The three-page agreement was signed and endorsed by all of us; We are taking our document and we will make our pronouncement soon,” he said without disclosing the details of the agreement.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said both parties had reached a consensus which would be passed to the union executive members for deliberation.

    “Based on this conclusion, we all agreed that the JAC will consult its organ with a view to calling off the strike as soon as possible, ” he said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, also declared the commencement of its nationwide with effect from Thursday.

    Chairman of the Union, Mr. Biobelemoye Josiah, who announced this on Wednesday in Ilorin, Kwara State noted that the JOHETSU had earlier issued a seven-day ultimatum on September 14, 2017, to again draw the attention of the government to their demands but no meaningful action was taken.

    He said, “This lackadaisical attitude of the government has necessitated the resolve of JOHESU to call out all our members nationwide to withdraw their services and stay at home with effect from midnight of today (Wednesday) even after waiting patiently until this hour on the approval for adjustments of CONHESS.

  • SSANU, NASU, NAAT join ASUU, declare total, indefinite strike

    The coalition of Nigerian university workers have vowed to join their academic colleagues beginning from Monday to press home their demands from the Federal Government.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had earlier embarked on an indefinite strike on August 8 but have since been in negotiations with the federal government.

    At a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the Joint Action Committee, JAC, of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU; Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU; and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, said the unions will begin a “total and comprehensive indefinite” strike due to the federal government’s alleged failure to fulfil a 2009 agreement with the unions.

    The chairman of JAC who is also the National President of SSANU, Samson Ugwoke, said the industrial action will begin on September 11.

    He said the workers will not provide even skeletal services during the strike.

    “Concessions shall not be granted while all our members are to stay at home till further notice, unless as directed by JAC through their respective presidents,” Mr. Ugwoke said.

    Apart from the 2009 agreement the unions said was reached with government and a Memorandum of Understanding reached this year, the unions said they were demanding payment of earned allowance to their members, review of governance system in universities, improved funding of universities in line with UNESCO recommendations and provision of infrastructure in the universities.

    They are also asking for payment of salary shortfalls being owed, implementation of the National Industrial Court judgement on university staff schools, registration of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company, NUPEMCO, and implementation of CONTISS 14 and 15 for technologists.

    They also want improvement of teaching and learning facilities in the universities, stemming of the tide of corruption in the university system, showing of commitment in the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/University unions Agreements and ensuring the headship of non-teaching units by non-teaching staff employed for the purpose of those units.

    The union also said it is essential for government to monitor the funds being released to universities.

    “It is not about releasing money, but let it be used for the purpose it was released for, whether it is government fund or internal generated revenue. Government knows those that control funds in the university, ” the JAC chairman said.

    He said though the government was not given a timeline to fulfil these demands, a memorandum of understanding was signed after a January 18 meeting. He said the understanding should be implemented “as soon as possible.”

    “In 2015, the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, acting on behalf of the federal government, directed heads of institutions and agencies to stop the inclusion of workers in the university staff school from the payrolls of their institutions and based on the directive, over 2000 of our members were technically retrenched,” Mr. Ugwoke said.

    The unions said they had given the federal government a 35-day notice before they decided to commence the strike on Monday.

    “Until we embarked on the five days warning strike in January, the federal government never called us for dialogue,” he recalled.

    “If an agreement was signed in 2009 and now in 2017 we are still demanding for the implementation of such agreement, does it not show that we have been exceedingly patient?

    “Our Charter of Demands has been with the government before ASUU went on strike,” Mr. Ugwoke said, stressing their decision to go on strike was not related to the ongoing action by their academic staff colleagues.

  • Non-Academic Staff Unions of Universities suspend warning strike

    The Non-academic staff unions of Nigerian universities on Thursday in Abuja suspended its 5-day warning strike.

    The unions are the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non–Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

    The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions announced the suspension in a communiqué.

    The communiqué was jointly signed by Mr. Sani Suleiman, President (NAAT), Mr. Solomon Alfa, Vice-President (SSANU), Mr. Peters Adeyemi, General Secretary (NASU).

    Others are: Dr. Jamila Suara, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education and Permanent Secretary in Labour and Employment Ministry, Mr. Clement Illoh.

    The Deputy General Secretary of SSANU, Mr Festus Ajayi, read the communiqué to newsmen at the end of the meeting with the Federal Government.

    “The meeting urged the members of JAC to suspend its ongoing warning strike.

    “JAC agreed to suspend the strike with effect from Friday, Jan. 20.

    “After due consideration by the leadership of JAC, they agreed to convey the outcome of the meeting to their respective congresses to suspend the strike”, he said.

    The communiqué stated that on the issue of Earned Allowance that any arrangement by government in this regards should involve all workers and employees in the university system.

    It also stated that on the judgement of the National Industrial Court (NIC) on staff schools in the universities, there was urgent need to put the university system on notice to avoid further termination of teachers’ appointment.

    The communiqué noted that a committee will be inaugurated by next week to look into the issue of corruption in some of the universities.

    Ajayi urged the Federal Government to ensure that they do not renege on the 2009 agreement as reaffirmed in the just concluded meeting.

    Illoh, who represented the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, commended the unions for their understanding.

    It is recall that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the unions had declared a five – day warning strike effective from Jan. 16.