SSANU May Begin Strike, Jan. 9

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) says it may commence an indefinite strike on Jan. 9, 2012 over the non implementation the 2009 agreement it reached with government.

The chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter, Mr Olu Omolona, told newsmen after a congress at the institution on Thursday that the Federal Government had promised to implement the agreement by January 8.

He said the Bill for an Act to Harmonise the Retirement Age of Academic Staff of Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education and for Matters Incidental 2011 had yet to be passed.

“The government promised that the bill would be passed by the National Assembly before the end of the year, but both the Senate and the House of Representatives are already on vacation,” Omolona said.

“This time around, there is no room for negotiation; we cannot start afresh as it is either our demands are met or the universities are paralysed,” he added.

He also said the strike would involve other unions in the university system such as the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

Omolona said the congress was holding simultaneously in other universities, adding that the proposed strike would signal another round of industrial crisis.

It will be recalled that SSANU had in 2009 signed an agreement with the Federal Government on the implementation of 65 years retirement age for its members as well as adequate funding of universities.