The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, has strongly criticized the composition of the Federal Government’s renegotiation committee.
Tasked with revisiting the 2009 agreements between the government and university-based unions, the committee was officially launched on Tuesday in Abuja, with a three-month deadline to conclude its work.
In a joint statement, SSANU President Muhammed Ibrahim and NASU counterpart Peters Adeyemi condemned the event as a “charade,” alleging that the government was prioritizing the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, at the expense of other unions. The unions claimed that the inauguration appeared to focus solely on ASUU, with little consideration for their concerns.
The unions raised their displeasure over the ceremony, highlighting how the Minister of Education’s speech predominantly centered on ASUU, while the contributions of SSANU and NASU were overlooked. They also pointed out that the President of ASUU was given a prominent role, whereas their leaders were relegated to more passive positions.
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This marks the fourth renegotiation committee formed by the government since 2017. Past committees, including those led by Wale Babalakin (2017), Munzali Jubril (2020), and Nimi Briggs (2022), have yet to deliver lasting results. The unions worry that the current renegotiation, much like previous efforts, could unfairly favor academic staff, leaving non-teaching personnel without fair representation.
In their statement, the unions criticized the government for not consulting with them before allowing the ASUU president to speak on behalf of all unions at the event. They concluded with a firm rejection of what they described as a biased process, accusing the government of undermining the rights of non-teaching staff.
“We reject this as a clear indication of the government’s bias toward academic staff and demand equal consideration in all negotiations,” the statement concluded.
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