The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has expressed sadness over the lingering delay on the part of President Bola Tinubu in concluding the new national minimum wage and making the final figure known to workers.
The trade union said the President was supposed to have concluded all needed consultations with the necessary stakeholders before the Tripartite Committee on the new Minimum Wage submitted its report.
This is as the union has threatened to shut down universities at the end of the two weeks ultimatum it issued to government to pay the four months withheld salaries which has been paid to its sister union, ASUU.
The ultimatum, issued last week by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Associated Institutions (NASU) to shut down universities if the withheld salaries are not paid, is expected to expire next week.
Speaking at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of Benin, Edo State, SSANU President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, noted that the president, during his election campaign, had promised to pay Nigerian workers a living wage that would take care of their immediate needs.
Ibrahim, who doubles as the National Internal Auditor of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), while responding to President Tinubu’s request to consult with governors and other stakeholders before taking a position on the amount to be decided, said: “I can say that at the level of SSANU, we are not too happy about the slow motion because the President of this country, President Bola Tinubu, campaigned on the mantra of ensuring that when he comes on board, he will make sure that there will be a living wage for Nigerian workers.
On the two weeks ultimatum which expires next week over the non-payment of four months withheld salaries of non-teaching staff in the universities, the SSANU President said: “Our position remains the same. We are resolute. We have made up our minds that we will fight with everything that we have in us that is legal, that is within the framework of the law. We cannot continue to take the back seat. We cannot continue to be unjustifiably punished for no fault of ours.
