SSANU, NASU call for payment of withheld salaries, removal from IPPIS

By Tajudeen Babamale

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), University of Ilorin Chapters, have appealed to the Federal Government to release their four-month withheld salaries, approve a living wage for Nigerian civil servants, and immediately direct the removal of university staff from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among other demands.

The union leaders made the appeal last Tuesday (July 9, 2024) while speaking with the press on the sidelines of a protest rally staged to press home their demands.

The protesters moved from the University Auditorium to the Fountain, carrying placards with various messages, including: “NO SSANU! NO NASU! No University”; “SSANU rejects the usurpation of its offices”; “Pay our four months withheld salaries”; and “We demand total freedom from IPPIS”, among others.

Addressing newsmen during the protest, the Chairman of SSANU, UNILORIN Chapter, Comrade Naheem Falowo, called on Nigerians to prevail on the government to reduce the expenses of governance to better serve the people. He noted that university staff could no longer afford house rent, school fees for their children, and health care bills.

Similarly, the Chairman of NASU, Comrade Suberu Ibrahim, stated that the protest was to demand the payment of the four-month withheld salaries, the arrears of 12 months of a 25% salary increase, and the removal of university staff from IPPIS as their payment platform..

The NASU Chairman also called for the approval of a living wage for Nigerian workers and a renewed commitment from the government to the nation’s education system.

Also speaking, the National Financial Secretary of SSANU, Comrade Jimoh Akanbi, appealed to the government not to cause disunity among university unions.

Akanbi, who is a former Chairman of SSANU, UNILORIN Chapter, said the government, which paid the withheld salaries of teaching staff members, should endeavour to pay the withheld salaries of the non-teaching staff who are working in the same system.

He lamented that earned allowances, which were budgeted for in the 2023 appropriation, have not been paid in the second half of 2024 and that the government still owes the university staff one year of arrears of consequential salary adjustment. He appealed to the government to consider the plight of university staff who are finding it difficult to make ends meet.