The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the federal government’s refusal to pay the backlog of salaries owed to university workers. Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) are owed four months’ salaries. Additionally, the government has withheld three months’ salaries from members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
This was contained in a statement signed by National Chairperson Comrade Rufus Olusesan and National Publicity Secretary Comrade Chinedu Bosah.
The union said the continuous withholding of salaries forced SSANU and NASU members to strike and protest on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. CDWR stands in solidarity with these university workers in their fight to achieve their demands. We urge SSANU, NASU, and ASUU to unite in their struggle and launch joint mass actions until their demands are met.
The federal government has unjustly withheld these salaries because staff union members went on strike to demand adequate education funding and improved working conditions. By doing so, the government is criminalizing protests and strikes, which are democratic, constitutional, and inalienable rights of workers and Nigerians in general. This unjust withholding of salaries violates workers’ democratic rights and subjects them to economic hardship.
CDWR calls on the Tinubu-led government to immediately pay all owed salaries. We also urge both federal and state governments to adequately fund education at all levels and ensure transparent and democratic control of schools by workers and community representatives. We appeal to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to actively support the struggle and demands of university workers.