By our Reporter
The fight for a stable academic system seems not to have ended in our universities as the non-teaching staff under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee((JAC), will on Tuesday, embark on three-day nationwide protests over the government’s handling of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, sharing formula of the N40 billion earned academic allowances and non-payment of arrears of the new minimum wage.
The JAC mentioned other contentious issues that informed the decision include inconsistencies in IPPIS payment and the delay in the renegotiation of the FGN/ ASUU/SSANU 2009 Agreement.
The committee further listed the non-payment of retirement benefits to former members, non-constitution of visitation panels to universities, poor funding of universities, teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units, among others.
The JAC which comprised the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities directed all its branches to mobilize the members on Monday for the rallies.
The decision to embark on the protest was taken on Friday night at a meeting by the leadership of NASU and SSANU, in Abuja, where they reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government on October 20, 2020.
In a communique signed by the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, the committee added that the unions would consider other measures, including embarking on an indefinite strike, after the protests.
The committee was expected to meet on Thursday to review the success of the protest and deliberate on the next step.