University Unions Threaten Strike Over N50bn Allocation Dispute

Tension is rising in Nigeria’s university system as the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) has threatened to go on strike if the Federal Government fails to review the allocation formula for the recently approved N50 billion for university-based unions.

The unions are protesting what they describe as an unfair distribution plan, which they believe heavily favors the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the expense of non-academic staff. According to JAC, this violates previous agreements that promised a fair and inclusive sharing of earned allowances among all university unions.

NASU’s General Secretary, Prince Peters Adeyemi, warned that repeating the same mistakes of unequal disbursement could lead to renewed unrest in the education sector. He recalled previous instances where non-teaching staff were shortchanged, triggering prolonged strikes.

SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim also called on the government to honor its commitments, stressing that failure to equitably share the funds would be seen as a breach of trust.

In addition, the unions criticized the government for failing to remit third-party deductions such as cooperative and union dues, despite recently paying two months of withheld salaries. They are demanding full payment of all outstanding entitlements to avoid further disruption in the nation’s higher education institutions.

As university workers grow increasingly impatient, the ball is now in the government’s court to prevent another round of strikes that could paralyze academic activities nationwide.