Earned allowance: Reps make moves to avert strike by university unions
The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to release earned allowances of Non-Teaching Staff of Nigerian Universities from 2009 to 2016. This followed a motion of Urgent Public Importance by Rep. Aisha Dukku (APC-Gombe) at the plenary on Thursday.
The call was aimed at averting the impending strike by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU). Moving the motion, Dukku said that the unions had directed their branches to mobilise members for a nationwide protest before embarking on strike. She said the action was as a result of refusal of the federal government to recall sacked workers of University Staff Schools as well as alleged discriminatory attitude of government towards members of the unions. Dukku expressed concern that the unions decried exclusion of their members from being part of National University Pension Company (NUPENCO) solely operated by Academic Staff Association of University (ASUU). The alleged preferential treatment extended to ASUU by the Federal Government is seen in recent allocation of money by the Ministry of Education. The ministry allocated 80 per cent of the money to ASUU and only 29 per cent for non-teaching staff unions, she said.
According to Dukku, the way and manner the money is being shared is contrary to any known accounting procedure. She said that if the concerns of the unions were not addressed on time, they would go ahead and shut down the universities in the country. Rep. Tajudeen Yussuf (APC-Kogi), applauded Dukku for bringing up the motion on the floor of the house. He blamed the incessant strike in the universities to the inability of parties to keep to the terms of agreement already made. Yussuf said that to address the matter, the agreement reached by the parties must be implemented. The legislator said that the incessant strained action had resulted to the emergence of “mushroom universities” in the country. The legislators also resolved to set up a committee to interface with the federal government and the unions with a view to resolving the matter. In his ruling, the Speaker, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila mandated the committee to ensure compliance with the house resolutions, NAN reports.
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