Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Other Associated Institutions have threatened to resume their suspended strike.
The General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, gave the hint on the sidelines of the National Executive Council meeting of the union in Abuja.
Although he declined to give the exact date of the commencement of the strike, Adeyemi said the union members had exercised patience enough over their withheld salaries.
Adeyemi said: “What is new is that the President’s directive has been disobeyed. We used to know that the president’s words can be equated to a command. So, when the President speaks, his aides quickly deal with it.
“However, in this case, it seems the Minister of Finance has his priorities beyond what he ought to have done.
“The money has not been paid. Now it is obvious that we are going to resume our suspended strike. We have given the government enough notice.
“Very recently, we had to prevail on our members to say, if we start a strike now, it may not be good. But everything we have done shows clearly that the finance ministry and the minister are unwilling to pay the two months that they said Mr President approved.
“Our patience is already exhausted. We are going to resume the suspended strike. I know that when certain elements in a government treat the directive of the President with levity, it could mean that they are exploiting their closeness to the President, and the President will have to readjust.”
The workers claimed the action by the ministry worked against the President’s resolve to end strikes in the universities.
“Everything is being done by this government, at least the education minister, to prevent strikes.
“The Ministry of Education has done its part, the President has done his part, and the finance minister is the one sitting on our money.”
President Bola Tinubu had, in October 2023, directed that members of NASU and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities be paid two out of the four months withheld salaries by the Federal Government during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2022, following a prolonged strike over unresolved disputes.
