University workers’ strike near resolution

The striking non-teaching workers of Nigerian universities are expected to announce an end to the ongoing industrial dispute on Wednesday.

“We are planning to call off the strike after a meeting on Wednesday,” said Abdulsubbur Salam, the spokesperson for the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, one of the three striking non-teaching unions.

Apart from SSANU, the other unions are the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, and the National Association Academic Technologists, NAAT. The unions, working together under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee, JAC, have been on strike since December over the sharing principle of the academic earned allowances between them and their academic staff counterparts.

According to the statement obtained by our correspondent, the JAC leadership met with the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, last week

“The honourable minister of Labour and the JAC leadership agreed that the ongoing strike would be suspended by Wednesday, 14th of March,” read the statement

The JAC had on December 19 met with Minister for Education, Adamu Adamu, in December, but nothing came of that meeting.

The strike has disrupted services, including library, laboratory and healthcare, in various Nigerian universities.