14th January, 2022
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has cautioned governors against politicizing education by establishing universities they cannot fund.
The union gave the advice in a communique issued on Friday after its zonal meeting in Maiduguri.
The communique was read by its National Vice President, North East, Mr. Abdulkadir Isa.
The communique called on all levels of government to invest massively in education.
It said the neglect and poor funding of universities by some governors to the detriment of teaching and research was a matter that required urgent attention.
The Senior Staff also called for a review of the formula used for sharing the N22.1 billion released by the Federal Government for Earned Allowances at the rate of 75 percent for teaching staff and 25 percent for non-teaching staff.
“The union is concerned that the non-teaching units of the universities are being usurped by teaching staff in violation of the condition of service and establishment procedures.
“Pending cases of earned allowances, the union noted that both federal and state governments still owe the arrears of earned allowances derived from federal government/SSANU 2009 agreement.
” We demand the full payment and implementation of same in staff monthly salaries.
“We are against the forceful retirement of our members at the age of 60 in violation of 65 years agreement in state universities,” the communique said.
It also raised concern over insecurity and inflation in the nation and called for urgent measures to address them.
It added that there is a need for legislation to be made to include representatives of unions in the university governing council.