The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Non-academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) has threatened a total shutdown of the universities in the country.

SSANU president, Mohammed Ibrahim, issued the threat to the federal government during an interview on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics.

According to Mr Ibrahim, both unions have given the FG a seven-day ultimatum which will start counting from Monday (today), after which they would embark on their mass action, if their demands are not met at the end of the ultimatum.

He said, “We are in charge of security, we are in charge of administration, we are in charge of medicals, we are in charge of hostels, we are in charge of electricity, we are in charge of everything apart from teaching. So, once our members down tools, no university can function in Nigeria.”

“It’s quite unfortunate. No union member wants to go on strike but when you are pushed to the wall, what would you do? You have to push back.

“You can see what is happening in the country. The economy is in dundrums and everybody is suffering. Most of our universities are located far outside the township and our members have to commute every day. Fuel cannot be accessed, food is scarce, our medicals can not be attended to, and members are suffering quite clearly,” he lamented.

“It’s quite absurd that we have to speak like this and it is because we have been clearly shown that we do not matter in the system while we all know that there is no university that can function without the non-teaching staff.

“We are populated by professionals, we oil the engine in the administration of every university and therefore treating a segment of staff with disdain does not speak well of the system.

“In 2022, all the university-based unions were on strike – four of us. For us in NASU and SSANU, we went on strike on the 27th of March and we called it off on the 27th of August after the intervention of the then Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

“We had an agreement that we signed with the government to review the situation and ensure that justice is done” he added.

Recalling that the FG agreed with them that none of them will suffer or their salaries withheld for participating in the strike, Mr Ibrahim, however, said the FG stopped the payment of all non-teaching staff in May and was only restored in September of the same year, adding that the current government decided to pay the withheld salaries of only ASUU members.

“Today, as I speak to you, our colleagues in ASUU have been able to get theirs and no one is saying anything about NASU and SSANU,” he lamented.