Varsities To Be Grounded As SSANU, Other Unions Join ASUU Strike

Addressing a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the chairman of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the three unions, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, explained reasons for their decision.

Ugwoke who is also the President of SSANU said the nationwide strike would be total and comprehensive.

“During the strike, there shall be no provision of services, no matter how skeletal. Concessions shall not be granted, while all our members are to stay at home till further notice, unless as directed by JAC through their respective presidents”, he said.

He listed non-payment of earned allowances, lack of good governance, poor funding as against the UNESCO recommendation, inadequate infrastructure in universities, abandoned projects, irregular payment of salaries, implementation of CONTISS 14 and 15 for technologies and corruption in the university system as reasons for their decision to embark on the strike.

He also listed the terms that will make them reconsider their action to include registration of NUPEMCO (pension management scheme), showing more commitment and seriousness in the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/University unions agreements, ensuring the headship of non-teaching units are headed by non-teaching staff employed for the purpose of those units, among others.

The unions lamented that rather than heeding to their demands, matters have continued to worsen, with the universities deteriorating by the day.

Ugokwe continued: “The poor governance system in the universities which brought the universities to their knees has perpetrated itself to the point that our rankings amongst the comity of world-class universities are deplorable.

“If an agreement was signed in 2009 and now in 2017, we are still demanding for the implementation of such agreement, does it not show that we have been exceedingly patient?

“Our patience however seems to have run to an end, particularly when the federal government appears to be toeing the dangerous path of taking the non-teaching staff unions for granted”.