THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) stated on Thursday that it has warned the federal government against the disbursement of earned allowances based on the current sharing formula, which it describe as “evil formula”.
The Western Zone of the union made the declaration during a media briefing in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital saying it is strongly opposed to the disbursement “as currently configured by the government”. It accused the government of using “divide and rule tactics” against the university workers in the country.
The National Vice-President of SSANU’s Western Zone, Comrade Abdussobur Salaam, said the 75 to 25 per cent sharing formula for ASUU and three other unions of SSANU, NASU and NAAT in the disbursement of the outstanding N22.7 billion allowance is unacceptable.
Comrade Salaam said the union’s members ”are prepared to collapse the university system over the matter.”
“As a union, SSANU wholesomely and vehemently rejects the lopsided sharing formula, and will use every legitimate means to sustain its position on this. We have directed our members to be vigilant and shall collapse the system at any hint of the payment of the Earned Allowances using this evil formula,” he said.
SSANU criticised the explanation of the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, on the reason for fixing the sharing formula at 75 per cent and 25 per cent to ASUU and other workers’ unions respectively.
According to Comrade Salaam, Mr Uwajiuba had claimed in an interview that the figure of beneficiaries among the non-academic staff unions is lower than the number of the academic counterparts.
“To underscore our position about the mischievous and wicked designs of government and its officials, the news report in Punch of yesterday, 17th November 2021, quoted the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, in justifying the skewed ratio for Earned Allowances stated that the non-teaching unions are made up of just a small population of librarians and laboratory workers who cannot equate to the large number of professors in the university system.
“By deliberately watering down the membership of SSANU and ignoring the fact that registrars and administrators, bursars and accountants, lawyers, medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, engineers, architects, and people from almost every profession form the fulcrum of SSANU, shows the hypocrisy of a minister whose status supposedly earns him the tag of honorable. In the light of his statement, how honorable can we describe our Minister of State for Education?” Comrade Salaam said.
