…as more chapters join industrial action
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige the strike by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) was illegal and might prompt the ministry to take legal actions.
Dr Ngige while speaking to State House correspondents after a private meeting with the president in Abuja, said the last conversation the government had with the non-teaching staff ended with a plan by both parties to meet next week to continue negotiations, therefore any planned strike before that will be regarded as a breakdown in negotiations.
He added that if the negotiation and what has been agreed is not obeyed, then the ministry might have to refer the dispute upwards from the industrial arbitration panel to the national industrial court.
Ngige’s comment is coming as the leadership of both SSANU and NASU signed a joint statement declaring both associations will embark on strike beginning from the midnight of February the 5th 2021 to press home their demands which includes inconsistencies in the implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System IPPIS and delays in the renegotiation of their 2009 agreement with the federal government.
Addressing the move by for a strike, Ngige said: “We will not claim ignorance of the fact that three unions in the University system, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, SSANU and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT had given us notice of strike.
“The first two unions SSANU and NASU did that under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee, JAC, and as government, we have moved to apprehend the strike because we just came out from a strike that lasted for nine months that was executed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
“So in consonance with the labour laws, we have apprehended both strikes. They gave us Trade dispute notice, we scheduled meetings with them after apprehension, we held a meeting with NASU and SSANU last week Tuesday and the government position was explained to them.
“They have a lot of issues mentioned as their grouse, issues like IPPIS. They said IPPIS has amputated some of their allowances, they also have the issue of consequential adjustment that was paid to all civil servants as a result of the new minimum wage of N30,000 for staff above Grade Level One, that is starting from Grade Level two up to level 17.
“Those in the University system have not received their own, that was an inadvertent omission and it was explained to them and even without their prompting, without their trying to go on strike, the government on its own has computed the amount involved up to January with effect from 19th April 2019 when the minimum wage took effect to January 2020, that is the allowance or the consequential amount that was missed in the 2020 budget.
“We explained that government plans to put that in the Supplementary budget of 2021 which will be submitted by the National Assembly as soon as the Minister of Finance resumes from vacation. On the issue of IPPIS, we explained to them that it is something that is of general application, a lot of civil servants, public servants had complained that some of their allowances were omitted in the payment of their emoluments.
“IPPIS office explained that it was work in progress, they are putting back those allowances and they showed evidence that they have put back so many. So these two issues are the cardinal issues in the points they have made.
“So in the main, after conferring with Mr President, we are telling the unions not to carry out the action because that action will run counter to ILO Statute on Social Dialogue and Principles at work because their employers have listened, they have brought them to the table. So for SSANU and NASU, we are imploring them not to carry out their threat which they said will take effect from this midnight.
“Moreso, when the meeting adjourned from their own instance. Just this morning I received a letter from them giving us a new date for the continuation of the dialogue, they proposed a new date of Thursday 11th of February and my office has communicated to the back that we will be ready for them at that time because as they claimed they needed time to consult with their constituency and come back on the fresh issues that have cropped up from the discussion. So I briefed Mr President on that.”
The minister stressed that he is very optimistic that if the unions give the government three months, then their demands will be met appropriately.
Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Federal University of Lafia chapter, has joined the nationwide strike as directed by its national headquarters.
Mr Monday Sarki, the chapter Chairman of SSANU told journalists on Friday in Lafia, that the strike was called over the failure of the government to fulfill the agreement it reached with the union on their welfare issues.
Sarki said the university chapter of the union had to comply with the directive by the national body, after expiration of its ultimatum to the Federal Government.
“In view of the various issues in contention, our national body decided that all branches should begin a strike action from 12:00 a.m. on Feb. 5,” Sarki said.
The Non Academic Staff of Universities (NASU), University of Lagos chapter, also said there was no going back on the indefinite strike embarked upon by its members until the Federal Government acceded to their demands.
Addressing journalists on Friday, in Lagos, after a Congress meeting of the union, convened to officially declare the strike action, Mr Kehinde Ajibade, Chairman, UNILAG NASU, said the union would resist any form of intimidation or force to return to work until their demands were met.
NASU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee (JAC), had on Jan. 12, embarked on a three-day nationwide protest over government’s inability to honour its agreement.
The unions said they were protesting the non-implementation of an agreement it entered into with the Federal Government in 2009, alongside more recent contending issues.
The issues included inconsistencies in the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS), non-payment of benefits of retired members and non-payment of EARNED allowance.
“Today, we received a directive from the national headquarters of our union to embark on an indefinite, comprehensive and total strike, starting from Feb.5.
“And the basis of this strike are numerous. First, the Federal Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with our unions, NASU and SSANU in 2020.
“This MoU was signed and agreed that all that was contained therein will be attended to, on or before Dec. 31, 2020, but up till as we speak, the government is yet to fulfill the promise.
“Some of the agitations contained therein are issues of inconsistencies in the IPPIS, the payment platform for university workers and a lot of others”.
The chairman explained that the Federal Government introduced IPPIS to university workers in 2017, and the national headquarters, under the aegis of JAC, held a series of meetings with the government.
“Government convinced the executives of JAC that there will be no issues, if only they embraced the payment system.
“Recall that our sister union, which is ASUU, outrightly rejected the IPPIS, because of the peculiarity of the university system,” he said.
According to him, NASU only accepted it because it wanted to give government benefit of the doubt to government and to see how it would play out.
“Before now, we were using another platform to receive our salary before migrating to the IPPIS. When we migrated, we discovered that the IPPIS is not sustainable within the university system.
“Since February 2020, the Federal Government started using IPPIS for our payment, some of our members will not be paid. If they pay ‘A’ this month, ‘B’ will be affected next month.
“We have made series of complaints, through our bursar, to the IPPIS office and up till now, nothing has been done about it,” the chairman said.
Ajibade lamented that the union was also having issues with their membership dues, saying that the IPPIS office had muddled and lumped up union dues and was warehousing them for months.
“The IPPIS withheld our dues for as long as eight months. It was only released in September 2020. However, we are getting it now on a monthly basis. But we are still having issues,” he said.
The union leader vowed that the strike would be indefinite if the government failed to yield to their demands.
He said that the union’s demands included non-payment of earned allowances and inconsistency in payment of salaries on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform.
The chairman added that all members of the association would remain at home until further directive from their headquarters.
A news correspondent who visited the university, reports that officials of the union were seen directing its members to return home in compliance with the strike.
