By Tunde Afolabi, Lagos
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has threatened to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike from Friday, May 1, 2026, if ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government fail to yield concrete results.
The union also decried what it described as persistent marginalisation of non-teaching staff within Nigeria’s university system, insisting its members are being treated as “second-class workers.”
Speaking to journalists after a congress held at the University of Lagos, the institution’s SSANU chapter chairman, Yusuf Rasak Ademola, said the union had exercised patience for too long without meaningful response from the government.
“We have done everything possible to make the Federal Government address our demands. Instead, what we got was a unilateral 30 percent increase in the consolidated salary structure that did not emanate from any agreement with us. We have outrightly rejected it,” he said.
Ademola outlined the union’s demands to include payment of outstanding wage awards, two months withheld salaries, 35 percent salary arrears, earned allowances, and improved funding of universities.
He faulted the government’s decision to announce a salary increase without prior consultation, describing it as arbitrary and lacking transparency.
“It did not come from any concluded negotiation. It was not discussed or endorsed by SSANU. It appears to undermine the ongoing renegotiation process and suggests that our welfare can be decided without our input, as if we are second-class citizens in the system,” he added.
The union leader noted that although another meeting with government representatives is scheduled for Wednesday, failure to reach an acceptable agreement would leave SSANU with no option but to proceed with the strike.
He urged the government to act swiftly in the interest of industrial harmony, questioning why demands of teaching staff had reportedly been addressed while those of non-teaching staff remain unresolved.
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