by Alexander O. Onukwue
The good news of the day is that ASUU has called its strike off, but they were not the only University staff union that had downed tools.
Both the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities embarked on indefinite strike actions of their own on the 11th of September, to press on Government to fulfil their own demands.
Academic activities such as lectures, supervision of projects and thesis presentations are the lifeblood of tertiary institutions, but Lecturers and students need the administrative aspects of the University system to function properly if the maximum objectives are to be achieved.
SSANU, NAAT and NASU have held meetings with the Federal Government through a Joint Action Committee, the most recent being on the 14th of September. That meeting lasted for 9 hours and 13 minutes, according to PREMIUM TIMES, and it is reported that the unions agreed to take the government’s offers to their members for further deliberations.
It is imperative that the non-academics get to work also as the resumption of lecturers alone will not be enough to restart academic activities on the nation’s campuses. The actual opening of classrooms, laboratories and field practical activities depend on them, and without these, lecturers may only teach under trees (not an anomaly on Nigerian campuses actually).
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