By Admin:

Non-teaching staff of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have embarked on an indefinite service withdrawal over the non-payment of their Earned Allowance (EA), despite confirmed disbursement by the Federal Government.

The industrial action, which was unanimously agreed during a congress held on Monday morning, was convened by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) OAU Branch, NASU and NANTS.

Members expressed growing frustration over what they described as an unjust and prolonged delay in receiving their entitlements.

Although the congress was not tagged a protest, members of the institution’s non-academic unions vowed not to return to their duty posts until payment alerts hit their phones.

“We are not resuming work until we’re paid. There is no fairness in what is happening, and our members are tired of waiting,” a union member who craved anonymity told OSUN DEFENDER.

SSANU Chairman, Comrade Ademola Junaid, lamented that OAU remains the only federal university in the South-West where non-teaching staff have yet to receive their EA, even though academic staff have already been settled.

Comrade Junaid blamed the delay on internal disagreements between unions over the sharing formula.

He specifically accused the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) of demanding 30 per cent of the total allocation despite having fewer members, a demand SSANU, NASU and NANTS firmly rejected.

“We’re not repeating the 2021 sharing formula. The university was directed to develop an internal model. We want equity this time, not politics,” Junaid said.

He further urged the university’s Vice-Chancellor to maintain neutrality and take decisive steps to ensure fairness in the distribution of the allowance, even if it means overriding all unions, including SSANU.

While stressing that there was no animosity between the unions and the university management, the SSANU chairman noted that the Vice-Chancellor was doing his best to mediate among the contending parties.

On the national level, SSANU and NASU’s Joint Action Committee recently met with the Minister of Education to address wider issues affecting non-academic staff, including the implementation of the 25–35 per cent salary increase, withheld salaries, third-party deductions, accumulated promotion arrears and re-negotiation of 2009 agreement.

The unions were reportedly assured that a government committee would be set up to look into their grievances.

However, members at OAU insist that the local EA dispute must be settled swiftly and transparently and not hijacked by any union for dominance.

Reacting to circulating rumours, Comrade Junaid also dismissed any claim that a court case had been instituted by the unions against the university, clarifying that any such case, if it exists, is between some individuals and the university, not the unions.