President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu; Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha to resolve the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) within two weeks, and report back to him at the expiration of the period.
This is coming as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU), on Tuesday, warned the Professor Nimi-Briggs Committee renegotiating the 2009 Agreement that it would not accept any disparity in University staff salaries and would take every legal action to ensure that such didn’t happen
The President also instructed that Ngige, and Mustapha, must always be in attendance at all meetings between ASUU and the government agencies, in order to see to it that they resolve the crisis quickly.
The President gave the directive on Tuesday at a meeting with the ministers and other relevant agencies after summoning the meeting to receive a briefing from the government representatives on the ongoing negotiations.
The President, after hearing from the relevant ministries and departments, told Adamu to ensure that the issues were resolved within two weeks and report back to him.
Also at the meeting were the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabuez.
Meanwhile, National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, has stated that the alleged proposed salary disparity by the Nimi-Briggs Committee for the university staff is not acceptable.
According to him, “We have read in the media that there is a proposal for the review of salary for University staff with a differential of teaching staff taking between 108 to 180 per cent and unreasonable of 10 percent for non-teaching staff.
“We are shocked to read that the Nimi-Briggs Committee has submitted a report to the government while we only met with them twice. To say the least, SSANU is not happy with the pace of work in that committee.
“While we only met twice with them, we are aware that they have met with the teaching staff not less than 10 times. We are surprised how the so-called percentage was allocated to non-teaching staff. We have not had the opportunity of discussing salary review with them because the committee stated that they have not gotten the approval of their principal to discuss that.
“We are seriously shocked and taken aback by the media report that a certain miserable, unacceptable percentage was recommended to non-teaching staff. We, therefore, advise that that committee should, as a matter of urgency, conclude renegotiation with us.”
The SSANU boss told the committee to immediately reconvene to conclude the assignment given to it by discussing frankly and truthfully the 2009 renegotiation document presented to it.
Warning that the non-teaching staff would not take lightly any attempt to have different payment tables for staff, he said, “This is because the university system is a universal system comprising two broad categories of staff, the teaching, and the non-teaching staff and the salary consideration has always been the same except for allowances.
“Therefore, any attempt to give preferential treatment to any group will not only be unfair but unjust and inhumane.
“The way the university operates, we are all in the system because of the students, the students are the most important stakeholder in the university project. Therefore, while the teaching staff is busy imparting knowledge to the students, the non-teaching staff have the responsibility of moulding the character of students through the provision of a conducive and secure atmosphere and that is why at the end of any student graduating degrees are awarded to students if they are found worthy in character and learning. The teaching and non-teaching staff play complementary roles in making the university.
“There is no university community that can operate successfully without the two categories of staff.
“For us, that story remains a rumour but if there is any truth in it, SSANU will resist it with any possible legal means available to us.”
Commending Senator Ngige for the role he has played in handling the negotiation of the 2009 Agreement, he said, “SSANU is happy with the dexterity of the Minister of Labour and Employment in ensuring that all university-based unions are carried along in this renegotiation exercise.”
