The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Education Institutions (NASU) yesterday suspended the ongoing strike of the two unions for two months.
The General Secretary of NASU and Spokesman of JAC, Peters Adeyemi, confirmed this on Saturday in a statement.
Adeyemi said the decision of the two unions to suspend the strike followed the conclusion of negotiation between JAC and the Federal Government team led by the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu.
The two months, according to him, will allow the government to implement the agreements reached.
The agreement includes the setting aside of N50 billion by the government for the payment of earned academic and earned allowances,issuance of a cogent decision on the University Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (U3PS), release of the white paper on university visitation panel and funding of the universities.
Adeyemi said the Minister directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to ensure that all the schools were up-to-date on what they are supposed to do; otherwise sanctions would be visited on any institution that defaults.
He quoted the minister as saying President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to devoting 15 percent of the national budget to education.
He said: “On the salary payment system, the minister said the alternative payment systems provided by ASUU JAC of NASU and SSANU did very well. He added that the Federal Government is awaiting the report of the technical committee it set up before taking action on the matter.”
The suspension will take effect from Wednesday, August 24,2022.
Also speaking, President of SSANU, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim said the unions reached agreement with the government on their conditions of service with the hope that the agreements would be implemented within the two months period.
The strike by SSANU and NASU had led to suspension of issuance of academic transcripts; and mobilisation of graduates for the National Youth Service.
NASU and SSANU members were directed to resume duties on Wednesday.
The JAC of NASU and SSANU embarked on strike on 27th March, 2022.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is continuing with its own strike.