Although the atmosphere in respect of the protest action embarked upon by non-teaching staff Unions at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta was generally peaceful, normal activities in the Alabata campus were grounded to a halt.
The non-teaching staff under the aegis of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), staged a protest over the non-payment of four months’ withheld salaries by the Federal Government.
The protest saw members of both unions chanting anti-government songs, highlighting difficulties they have been experiencing due to the non-payment of salary arrears.
The protesters carried placards bearing inscriptions such as: Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop, We are workers, not slaves, FG, don’t suffocate us, Pay our four months salary, Let Federal University workers breathe, and, Divide and rule is not allowed.
The protesters marched to vital spots on campus including the Motion Ground and the Senate Building where they were addressed by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Babatunde Kehinde.
Addressing the protesters, Chairman of NASU, FUNAAB Branch, Comrade Samson Ediviri, described the Federal Government’s decision to pay four months’ salary arrears to academic staff while leaving non-academic staff in limbo as “discriminatory, unjust and biased.”
“We are using this protest to call on the Nigeria University Commission (NUC), the Minister of Education, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that all our agreements are honoured and our four months’ salary arrears are paid,” said Comrade Ediviri.
“Non-academic workers are key to the running of universities, and we don’t deserve this treatment. We recently lost a member at FUNAAB, and many of us are just managing to survive”, he added.
He stressed: “The struggle is for the benefit of all workers in the university, and this protest, directed by the national bodies of SSANU and NASU, is to demand the payment of our four months’ withheld salaries, earned allowances, and a 23.5% salary increment for non-academic staff of universities.”
For his part, Chairman of SSANU-FUNAAB Branch, Comrade Rotimi Fasunwon, said the protest aimed to draw the attention of the Federal Government and the public to the plight of non-academic staff in Nigerian universities.
He explained that the Federal Government had failed to pay the four months’ withheld salaries, resulting from the “no-work-no-pay” policy during the nationwide university strike in 2022, despite promises to do so.
Fasunwon accused the Federal Government of employing divide-and-rule tactics by paying the same withheld salaries to academic staff in February 2024.
He further criticised the Federal Government’s failure to implement the payment of earned allowances and a 23.5% salary increment for non-academic staff, as agreed upon in the 2009 Memorandum of Action, noting that N50 billion being allocated for this purpose in the 2023 budget, the Federal Government had not implemented the payment.
The SSANU chairman emphasised that the joint protest, directed by the national headquarters of SSANU and NASU, aimed to demand the payment of withheld salaries, earned allowances, and the salary increment for SSANU and NASU members.
