By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has promised to clear the arrears on the consequential adjustment on the minimum wage of members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) by end of October.
A statement issued on Friday by the Deputy Director/Head of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr Charles Akpan, said this pledge was made during a meeting between the national government and the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the two unions.
It was stated that the meeting was called to look into the level of implementation of the Memorandum of Action signed by both parties in February 2021.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, who led the meeting, said he was impressed with the unions for their understanding and maturity in cooperating with the government to resolve their issues, emphasising that government did not take them for granted.
According to him, the payment of the arrears would be fast-tracked between now and the end of October, adding that arrears in salary and promotion had been captured in the 2021 Supplementary Budget.
The Minister informed the workers that it was not the government’s intention to owe the minimum wage arrears the delay in payment was caused by the difficulty in getting the actual number of people qualified for the arrears, as a lot of people had joined the Service from 2020 up, while the period of the arrears spanned April 19 to December 31, 2019.
On earned allowances by relevant organisations (universities, polytechnics, colleges of education), Mr Ngige said the JAC would update the National Universities Commission (NUC) on the outstanding amount owed its members, while the NUC was given two weeks to do the appropriate reconciliation.
It was agreed to correct the anomalies in the payment of hazard allowance caused by an error in the printing, which had seen all members collecting the same sum of money across board, with no distinction between senior and junior.
Regarding the responsibility allowance, where Heads of Unit were omitted, the Minister disclosed that their employers had been given two weeks to rectify the anomalies to enable the affected people get the appropriate allowance due to them.
On the issue of the renegotiation of FGN/SSANU/NASU 2009 agreement, he said the unions and NUC would agree on a date to meet, as the secretariat of the renegotiation committee was ready.
He also stated that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation reported that out of 293 claims received, all had been processed with 273 paid, and the 20 outstanding would be paid as soon as possible.
The Minister disclosed that the meeting stepped down some issues billed for discussion because of the unavoidable absence of the relevant officers –inconsistencies in IPPIS payments, and update on teaching staff usurping headship of non-teaching units in clear violation if condition service and establishment procedures.
He disclosed that the meeting was adjourned to the end of October, adding that meanwhile, all the complaints would continue to be handled administratively, as timelines had been put on some of the outstanding issues.
A spokesperson for JAC, Mr Peters Adeyemi, said their interactions with the government would continue till the agreements were fully implemented, noting that Friday’s gathering was essentially to take stock of the implementation of the agreements the unions signed with the government in February.
