The meeting between the Federal Government and the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions ended in a deadlock on Wednesday as both parties failed to reach an agreement.
The National President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, told our correspondent that the unions would continue with the strike.
“Strike continues,” Ibrahim said in reaction to the meeting.
SSANU and NASU commenced a seven-day nationwide strike on Monday to protest the refusal of the Federal Government to release their four-month salaries withheld in 2021 because they embarked on a strike.
The past government of President Muhammadu Buhari withheld the salaries, insisting on the principle of ‘No work; no pay’.
However, the current administration of President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of the withheld salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, who were also affected by the past administration’s ‘no work; no pay’,but SSANU and NASU were, however, displeased to be left out.
They wrote to the Tinubu government, asking that their withheld salaries be released.
The government, however, ignored the repeated demands, following which the two unions embarked on a strike.
It was later reported that the seven-day warning strike, which began on Monday, grounded academic activities on university campuses across the country.