Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, has indicated that the Federal Government is contemplating offering half salaries to non-academic staff members of Nigerian universities, including NASU and SSANU.
Mamman mentioned that the ministry is awaiting approval from President Bola Tinubu to begin paying the salary arrears.
Recently, union members went on a one-week warning strike to demand payment of their withheld salaries from the 2022 strike period.
The unions criticized the government for not including them in the payment of four-month salaries given to ASUU.
However, Mamman argued during an interview on Channels TV that members of these two unions were not on strike for the same duration in 2022 as their academic counterparts.
He, however, assured them that the government has been “doing everything possible to get relief for them.”.
Asked what has delayed the payment to NASU and SSANU members, the minister said, “No, it has not been approved.
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“There is a court judgement on no work, no pay. ASUU getting four months’ pay was actually a discretionary decision on the part of the president.
So, it doesn’t automatically transfer (to NASU and SSANU), but the matter is under consideration,” he said.
When asked by the presenter to give a time to the payment of the non-academic varsity staff members, Mr Mamman said, “I don’t think it is safe to put a time on it, but it’s safer to say that we are on it and we are pushing.
“And in any case, the non-academic staff were not on strike for the same period as the academic staff—aabout four months or so. So, if they are getting payment, it is going to be half of that (payment), if the President will follow his precedent with the academic staff.”
He also dismissed allegations of discrimination against the unions.
“That cannot be right; there is no rating. These are people working in the same terrain; they are doing different things but all working towards the same goal.
“I believe what happened was a communication problem; it wasn’t deliberate to exclude them from that benefit,” he added.
