As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate the 2023 International Workers‘ Day, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has raised the alarm over the exclusion of its members from the 40% pay rise for civil servants in the country.
The union also decried the failure of the government to release the salaries of its members which were withheld during the four-month strike period it engaged in during the year 2022.
Labour Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is celebrated on May 1 every year to honour the working class across the world. It is celebrated as a national public holiday in many countries. The history of Labour Day goes back to 1886 when a Labour Union in the United States decided to go on strike with the sole demand that workers should not be allowed to work over eight hours a day.
In a goodwill message to commemorate the celebrations, the national president of SSANU who doubles as the national internal auditor for the Nigeria Labour Congress, Muhammed Ibrahim, noted that workers were determined to contribute positively to the “building of a great country”.
Speaking in the statement issued in Abuja on Monday, Ibrahim said, “Our members have continued to report for duty in the most security-challenging parts of Nigeria.
It’s a pity that the federal government has remained adamant in the payment of withheld four months salaries during the nationwide strike in 2022. Comrades, you are all aware that SSANU complied with all industrial legal protocol before embarking on strike when government reneged on its part of the bargain. We have made every efforts for government to see reason why we should be paid our rightful due all to no avail. We are once again calling on the government to urgently pay the withheld salaries without further delay. The insensitivity of the government to the plight of workers is provocative and unbearable.
Comrades, you are also aware that since we suspended the strike last year, the issue of re-negotiation of the 2009 Agreement has not yielded any result. It appears the federal government does not like the industrial harmony in the universities. We are calling on the government to without any delay ensure that the renegotiation is urgently concluded and implemented.
On the 40 per cent pay rise, it is unfathomable why some workers have started receiving their payment, our members are yet to receive theirs. We call on the government to ensure that our members receive their own payment as soon as possible if not, we can no longer guarantee industrial harmony in the universities.
“We should also place it on record that the N50 billion Earned Allowances which the government promised last year is yet to be paid. We are using this opportunity to tell the government to release is as quickly as possible as further delay will not be helpful to the system.”