The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set to meet with the Federal Government on July 25, 2024, to discuss its unmet demands. This comes as non-academic staff of universities prepare for a one-day protest on Tuesday over their withheld four-month salaries.
ASUU chapters across campuses have been engaging in protests, threatening another round of industrial action if the government fails to fulfill its promises. The union has published an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, demanding the full implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government since 2009.
The non-academic staff unions, under the Joint Action Committee, have also declared a nationwide protest starting from July 18, 2024, over their withheld salaries. The unions, comprising the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), have directed all branches to hold a mandatory general meeting on Monday to sensitize members to the government’s insensitivity to their plights.
The Federal Government had withheld the salaries of both academic and non-academic staff for participating in an industrial action that grounded universities for eight months in 2022. While academic staff received four months’ salaries in February, non-academic staff have been left out, leading to renewed tensions between the unions and the government.