As Academic Staff of universities prepare to resume work after close to 10 months away from lecture rooms, its counterpart, Non-teaching staff of universities, under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee, has disclosed that it will begin a three-day nationwide protest on Tuesday.
Joint Action Committee is made up of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU).
The Committee, on Friday night, at a meeting of the leadership of NASU and SSANU, in Abuja, took the decision after a review of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government on October 20, 2020.
While directing all its branches to mobilise their members for rallies on Monday, the group said the protest would be against inconsistencies in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) payment, delay in the renegotiation of the FGN/ ASUU/SSANU 2009 Agreement and the sharing formula of the N40 billion earned academic allowances and non-payment of arrears of the new minimum wage.
Sequel to negotiations between the Federal Government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on ending a protracted strike action by the latter, N40 billion earned allowances for the four university unions was approved by the government with 75 per cent of the amount allegedly allocated to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, while 25 percent was to be split among the other three unions.
The committee said other contentious issues include non-payment of retirement benefits to former members, non-constitution of visitation panels to universities, poor funding of universities, teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units, among others.
A communique signed by SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, added that the unions would consider other measures, including embarking on an indefinite strike, after the protests.
The Committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday to review the success of the protest and deliberate on the next step.