Salary Arrears: FG considers half pay for SSANU, NASU members-Minister

The Federal Government members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) may get half of their withheld salaries should President Bola Tinubu approve the payment of their salary arrears.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.

According to Mamman, the non-academic staff members of universities were not on strike for the same period in 2022 as their academic counterparts.

He said the government has been “doing everything possible to get relief for them.”

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SSANU and NASU had accused the Federal Government of unfair treatment and discrimination by failing to pay them like their academic counterparts.

When asked what has delayed the payment to NASU and SSANU members, Mamman said, “No, it has not been approved.

“There is a court judgement on no work, no pay. ASUU getting four months’ pay was actually a discretion and decision on the part of the President. So, it doesn’t automatically transfer (to NASU and SSANU) but the matter is under consideration.”

“I don’t think it is safe to put a time on it but it’s safer to say that we are on it and we are pushing.

“And in any case, the non-academic staff, they were not on strike for the same period with the academic staff — about four months or so. So, if they are getting payment, it is going to be half of that (payment), if the President will follow his precedent with the academic staff.”

Speaking on the claim of discrimination by NASU and SSANU, the minister said, “That cannot be right, there is no rating. These are people working in the same terrain, they are doing different things but all working towards the same goal.

“I believe what happened was a communication problem initially, it wasn’t deliberate to exclude them from that benefit.

It could be recalled that in March, SSANU and NASU members embarked on a one-week warning strike to protest their withheld salaries by the Federal Government.

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The two unions berated the Federal Government for paying withheld salaries to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while neglecting the non-academic unions.

All the unions had embarked on an eight-month strike in 2022 to press home some of their demands including a better welfare package. The administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against the unions but President Bola Tinubu last October approved the release of four of the eight months withheld salaries.