By Junaid Abdullahi
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, have called for the immediate dismissal of the Ministers of Education and Labour and Productivity.
The unions, under the Joint Action Committee, JAC, accused the ministers of failing to address their grievances despite multiple promises.
During a peaceful protest held at the Yelwa Campus l on Tuesday, the unions demanded payment of withheld salaries and other entitlements, criticising President Bola Tinubu’s administration for unfulfilled campaign promises and increasing hardship.
The protesters who carried placards with various inscriptions, marched through major roads within the campus chanting solidarity songs.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Ministers of Labour and Education should be sacked,” “Tinubu, pay us our wage awards,” “pay us our four months arrears of withheld salaries and other allowances” and “SSANU says: Tax the rich, subsidise the poor.”
Speaking in an interview with journalists during the protest, the JAC Chairman, Sulisma Jatau, demanded the payment of their four months’ salary arrears vowing that they will not rest on their struggles until their demands are met.
“This protest is geared towards making the government pay us our salaries. They must pay our withheld salaries, they must pay our earned allowances, they must pay all our entitlements, and the 2009 agreement must be respected.
“The Minister of Labour and the Minister of Education must be sacked. We demand for their sack because they promised us more than 10 times now and we have not seen the light of the day, so they must be jokers.
“As Honourable Ministers, they are supposed to be honourable in their own actions and if they are not, they should be sacked and those competent should be appointed to head those places,” he said.
The JAC Chairman also described the administration of President Bola Tinubu as a “failure” stating it has not met the expectations of Nigerians nor has it fulfilled its campaign promises.
