Hundreds of non-teaching staff at the University of Ibadan, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest against non-payment of their entitlements by the federal government.
The protesters were led by chairmen of Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Comrade Oluwafemi Michael Ogunlade and Abiodun Rasaq Omisore, respectively.
The protesting workers started the protest at the main entrance of the institution, during which they blocked the ever busy UI-Sango Road for almost one hour and disrupted vehicular movement.
Some of the placards displayed by the angry workers included “Federal Government should honour 2009 agreement made with the Union”, “Nigeria workers are hungry” and “JAC demands immediate release of earned allowances from 2013 till date”.
Other placards read “Tinubu once promised us cassava but now Garri is no longer available” and “SSANU demands 4 months withheld salary”.
Ogunlade said that the workers would mobilise and stage a protest in Abuja if the federal government failed to answer them.
He said, “You know in the Federal Universities, we have the non-teaching union, we have the teaching union. NASU, SSANU and ASUU. ASUU are the lecturers, while NASU and SSANU are non-teaching staff.
But what we discovered was that the Federal Government paid ASUU. I don’t have anything against ASUU. We are all working here (UI).
But our grievances are against the government because it is not ASUU that paid themselves, it is the Federal Government that paid them.
And we embarked on the same strike and we even suspended our strike before them. Our strike was four months, while their strike was eight months.
If they fail to honour this agreement, we will go to Abuja on July 18, 2024, for a national protest.”
