Resumption of tertiary institutions gets a serious setback as the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) begin a 14-day warning strike on Monday October 5, 2020.

The strike is in fulfillment of the unions’ earlier indicated intention to embark on strike whenever the federal government lifts Covid-19 lockdown on tertiary institutions without addressing their grievances. The union warned that unless their grievances are addressed quickly, the warning strike will turn into an indefinite strike.

The grievances of the unions include non-payment of arrears of earned allowances to their members, inconsistencies of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in the payment of salaries to members, non-payment of arrears of national minimum wage to their members and non-payment of retirement benefits to out-gone members, poor funding of tertiary universities, usurpation of the headship of non-teaching units by academic staff in clear violation of conditions of service and establishment procedures, etc.

The unions have also requested a renegotiation of the 2009 FG/NASU/SSANU agreements which FG has defaulted in its own part.

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It is noteworthy that the federal government on Friday, October 2, 2020 instructed schools to reopen after a 7-month lockdown meant to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is still on strike. And just like SSANU and NASU, the academic union has insisted that unless their grievances are addressed, they would not back down.

Note that Boldscholar reported last week, Wednesday September 30, that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who claimed that ASUU is not owed salaries, also hinted on a live television programme hosted by Channels Television that the federal government would hold a meeting with the union after October 1 independence day celebration to address ASUU grievances, particularly as regards the payment system software used to pay salaries to tertiary institutions.