SSANU Warns FG Against Fresh Crisis In Varsities Over Earned Allowance

SSANU Warns FG Against Fresh Crisis In Varsities Over Earned Allowance The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has warned that the delay by the federal government to review the 2009 agreement it signed with the university- based non-teaching staff union may lead to another round of crisis in the university system. The union warned that urgent steps must be taken by the federal government for the review of the agreement without further delay before it leads to industrial actions and destroy the on-going smooth academic calendar. In a communiqué issued at the end of its 24th regular Executive Council Meeting held at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu State at the weekend, SSANU said the agreement has since been due for review with effect from August, 2012. The communiqué which was signed by SSANU National President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, and the National Public Relations Officer, Comrade NAD Aboribo, frowned at the attitude of the federal government in reaching and signing tripartite agreement with unions without commitment to implement it. The communiqué reads in part, “NEC-in-session notes that, going by the terms of the 2009 FGN/SSANU agreement, the agreement is due for review with effect from August, 2012. Council frowns at the culture of the government signing agreement with unions, with little or no commitment to full implementation of the terms of the agreement which is one of the causes of frequent industrial crises in the country, particularly in the Nigerian public university system. “SSANU NEC therefore, calls on the federal government, to, as a matter of urgency, put machineries in motion for the review of the agreement without further delay before it degenerates into another round of crisis.” Specifically, SSANU condemned the non-implementation of the Earned Allowances component of the 2009 Agreement to its members on monthly basis and called for its regular payment, “to avoid situations that may aggravate another industrial crisis in the universities. SSANU also called on the federal government to expedite action on the payment of the arrears to their members in research institute affiliated to universities, regretting that this category of workers are yet to be paid any arrears of the Earned Allowances. It appealed to the federal government to release the balance of funds to enable University Governing Councils settle the outstanding arrears. “Council also implores the Governing Councils of State owned universities to as a matter of urgency, begin the implementation of the Earned Allowances and its arrears to SSANU members in their universities and inter universities centres to forestall any likely disruption in the regular university calendar,” the union said. The union also viewed with great concern, government’s policy on the implementation of Integrated Personal Payroll Information System (IPPIS) in all federal ministries, departments, and agencies, and government’s insistence on implementing it in universities. It expressed worries that the government was adopting an obsolete policy of over centralization in a period where decentralization was being embraced globally, saying that “SSANU will not subscribe to the implementation of the IPPIS in the universities including the research institutes affiliated to the universities,” until acceptable software is developed to take care of the peculiarities. SSANU also called on government to urgently implement in full, the group life insurance to her members as part of the Contributory Pension Acts. (Leadership)