Withheld Salaries: Police Stops Protesting Varsity Workers from Marching to Fed Secretariat

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Protesting members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) on Thursday clashed with policemen as they tried to march to the Federal Ministry of Education and Labour and Employment located within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

The demonstration, organized by the Joint Action Committee of both unions was to protest federal government’s failure to pay SSANU and NASU members’ salaries withheld during their national strike in 2022.

General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, said the unions had prepared letters they would present to both ministries.
The protesting workers held placards asking the federal government to pay “us what you owe us.”
Salaries of members of the university-based unions who participated in the 2022 nationwide strike were withheld by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The unions said meetings with the government over the withheld salaries have not yielded positive results.
Hundreds of protesting workers gathered at the Unity Fountain in Abuja as early as 8 am chanting solidarity songs as SSANU and NASU leaders addressed them.
The unions were prepared to march to the Federal Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour and Employment.
However, heavily armed police prevented them from leaving the Unity Fountain area.

The police used a truck to blocked the entrance gate of the Unity Fountain and said there under instructions not to allow the workers march on the streets.
Efforts by the protesters to negotiate their exit were unsuccessful until leaders engaged with Department of State Security (DSS) personnel who eventually allowed a select group to proceed by vehicle to deliver protest letters to the ministries.