Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) staged protests across public university campuses on today, July 9, 2024.
Top on their list of demands is the immediate release of their withheld salaries.
Reports received earlier in the day showed the non-academic staff members at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State, carrying placards and marching around the campus.
The workers’ placards displayed various messages urging the Federal Government to release their withheld salaries and address their outstanding demands.
Similar scenes were reported at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in Imo State, where discontented workers marched through the university community, pressing their demands.
At the University of Ilorin in Kwara State, SSANU and NASU members also joined the protest, calling on political leaders to reduce governance costs and curtail their opulent lifestyles to meet the financial needs of the university staff.
Leaders of both unions and their members held a rally on the university campus following a congress. They questioned why the Federal Government had failed to meet their demands since 2009.
To prevent a total collapse of university education nationwide, union leaders urged the government to expedite the implementation of their demands.
Similar protests occurred at other public universities across the country.
NASU National President, Makolo Hassan, stated on Monday that the protests would proceed as planned, emphasizing that the Federal Government had failed to address their demands following a previous warning strike.
Tuesday’s demonstrations followed the expiration of a two-week ultimatum issued by NASU and SSANU to the Federal Government in June.