By Amos Aar
THE JOINT Action Committee (JAC) of the Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi (MOAUM), formerly Benue State University, has vowed that it will only suspend the ongoing strike by its members only if they receive the payment alerts for unpaid salaries and when all queries issued against staff for participating in the industrial action are withdrawn.
Comrade Luper Shishi, chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SANU) and chairman of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising SANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) at MOAUM, told journalists after a congress at the university on Friday that the two conditions are non-negotiable.
“If we receive alert, if it is in the night, we will suspend the strike,” Shishi said, reiterating that implementation of the financial component of the national minimum wage, the overdue payment of salaries, is the primary demand.
He said other administrative issues can be addressed through continued dialogue, but that money remains the immediate problem.
Although MOUAM’s Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ubwa, had during an interview with National Record and other media organisations two weeks ago said, the university’s staff collect salaries even before those of federal universities and have no cause to embark on strike, Comrade Shishi, who thanked Governor Hyacinth Alia and university management for progress on several outstanding administrative matters, said the removal of fuel subsidy and rising cost of living have made the current pay inadequate.
“To be honest with you, our pay can no longer take us home,” he said, describing staff hardship that includes long-distance walking to work, children sent away from school and inability to afford medical care.
He said unions at the teaching hospital and judiciary had already had their wage demands implemented, and that MOAUM non-academic staff had been patient since the national minimum wage took effect in July 2024.
The union said it was assured salaries would be paid by March 2025, then again by the end of August, but payments did not materialise.
Shishi added that the government delegation, led by the state head of service, appealed for suspension of the strike and told the union that federal allocations had been received and that officials preferred to negotiate outside a strike atmosphere.
“The Head of Service appealed passionately that we should suspend the strike, but the appeal alone was not enough without the financial transfer”, he insisted.
The chairman also addressed disciplinary queries issued to members for taking part in the strike. “This one is non-negotiable,” he stated, maintaining that no member who lawfully participated in the strike should be victimised. “You cannot victimise any member of our union based on their participation in this strike”.
Asked how the union would respond if management imposed a “no work, no pay” rule, Shishi warned of escalated action. “That is laughable at this moment because you cannot beat a child and expect that child not to cry,” he said, threatening wider mobilisation across union branches if punitive measures are enforced.
Shishi further disclosed that the union had given repeated notices and even withdrew an earlier ultimatum in good faith while awaiting government action. Now, after months of delayed promises and growing hardship, the congress transmitted the leadership’s position to members: pay the outstanding financial arrears and withdraw queries, and the strike will be suspended immediately.
The strike, which the union describes as lawful and properly notified, remains in effect as at press time.
