The Minister of Labour and Employment,
Sen. Chris Ngige, says the Federal Government has fulfilled its part of an
agreement reached with the striking non-academic staff of federal universities
on Sept. 20.
In a statement signed by Mr
Samuel Olowookere, the Deputy Director of Press in the ministry on Tuesday,
Ngige said the government had also fully complied with the implementation
timelines of the agreement.
The university workers began
the strike on Monday under the aegis of Joint Action Committee (JAC) made up of
the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic
Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
They are protesting the
sharing formula of the N23 billion released by the Federal Government for the
settlement of earned allowances.
In the sharing formula,
non-academic staff were allocated 11 per cent of the N23 billion as against 89
per cent for academic staff in the universities.
The minister asked them to
call off the strike and make a fresh case in respect of their reservation
concerning the disbursement of the N23 billion, which he said was the first
item on the Sept. 20 agreement.
Ngige said it was important
for Nigerians to be informed that the federal government had fully fulfiled its
part of the agreement.
He stated that the government
could not be blamed for what the unions term “skewed disbursement formula” for
the money.
“As I speak, the Federal
Government has fully implemented the major contemporary issues such as payment
of shortfalls, registration with PENCOM, among others, in the agreement.
“The only grievance the
unions have today is that the modality for the disbursement of the N23 billion
released by the Federal Government for the settlement of earned allowances is
skewed against them.
“But I advised them during
the negotiation to call off their strike when it entered the fifth day and
quickly forward their own template for accessing the N23 billion meant for the
academic and non-academic staff of the universities, since the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) had already submitted theirs.
“They bluntly refused and
dragged the strike for weeks,” Ngige said.
He, however, said nothing had
been lost, and urged the unions to make fresh case for inclusion in the 2018
budget, adding that the government was willing to address the issue.
The minister faulted the
unions’ argument that they only resumed an old strike, saying the strike had
been conciliated, called off and the terms of agreement implemented.
“If the unions under JAC are
embarking on a fresh strike, they are yet to comply with the relevant sections
of the labour laws”, he added.
He warned them to stop
misguiding their members and avoid pushing the government to a point where it
would invoke ‘No Work No Pay’ in line with labour laws.
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