The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) chapter, on Thursday joined their counterparts across the country to protest the Federal Government’s failure to honour agreements reached with the union.
The aggrieved university workers gathered around the Senate Building on campus, chanting solidarity songs and displaying placards with inscriptions such as, “We worked, you withheld, release our wages,” “Third-party deductions are not government property, release it,” and “Enough is enough, pay our withheld salaries.”
Speaking during the demonstration, the FUTA SSANU Chairman, Felix Adubi, said the protest was in line with the national directive of the union to press home long-standing demands, including the renegotiation of the 2009 Federal Government/SSANU Agreement.
According to him, “The renegotiation document contains our welfare package that gives us some dignity as university workers. It has been long overdue, and we are calling on the government to commence and conclude the process within the shortest possible time.”
Adubi warned that if the government fails to address their demands, the branch would await further instructions from the union’s national leadership.
Report indicate that the SSANU national body had directed all chapters to stage a one-day protest to demand, among other things, the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, immediate payment of 25 and 35 per cent salary increments, and the release of all withheld salaries.
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