Barely few days after their sister unions, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Staff Union (NASU), issued a 7-day warning strike, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) University of Ilorin chapter has demanded the unconditional release and payment of their five-and-a-half-month-withheld salaries from March 2022 to August 2022, stressing that the organized body has concluded on embarking on a 3-day warning strike to press home their demands.
According to reports by Informant247, members of the association held a peaceful protest at the University of Ilorin on Wednesday, where they expressed their dissatisfaction over what they termed as “sidelining by the Federal Government”.
Speaking to journalists during the protest, Chairman of Unilorin NAAT, Comrade O.P. Awolola, described the strike action as their last resort after the federal government failed to respond to their demands despite several dialogues.
“We have been mandated by our national body to go on a three-day warning strike,” said Awolola, who claimed that members of one of the unions had been paid their arrears while other sister unions were allegedly out schemed.
“Our major grievance is what we call being sidelined by the federal government, which, in its own ingenuity, has approved the payment of backlog of salaries to every member of the university-based unions. But to our dismay, only ASUU members have been paid their arrears, and other unions now have to wait endlessly for their own,” he added.
Awolola stated that President Bola Tinubu had in January this year approved the payment of four months’ backlog salaries for all the unions in the University.
While stressing the critical role played by members of the association in providing quality education for Nigerian students, the NAAT Chairman said that the economic situation in the country has further worsened their living conditions.
“NAAT is using this medium to appeal to President Bola Tinubu to call all those in charge of the release of funds in order to avert throwing our wards onto the streets”.
Comrade Awolola recalled the death of Mr. Olawuyi, a seasoned technologist and a member of the association from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, who was killed by a lion at the zoo of the institution. He expressed that the late Olawuyi is also being owed, and the payment of the arrears will mean that his death will not be in vain.
In his remarks, the Secretary of the Association, Comrade Ndagi Mustapha, noted that the body is not embittered with the payment of the arrears to ASUU members but only demands equity and fairness from the government.
“We have also paid our dues in this line of duty, and it will interest Nigerians to note that our members have fully carried out their respective duties for which salaries are being held, and what we demand from the government is equity and fairness,” he said.
Speaking further, Ndagi noted that the fulfillment of their obligations has ensured that the university students have a seamless and successful graduate and were further mobilized by NYSC during the year under review.