Academic activities were at a standstill at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Monday, as members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities of the institution, joined the seven-day nationwide warning strike.
The groups said they are embarking on the strike to press home their demands as regards unfair treatment and disparity in the payment of salaries by the federal government.
Members of the groups marched around the institution’s campus while on enforcement to ensure compliance among their members.
Speaking to journalists, the institution’s Secretary of SSANU, Bonny Ozonkwuaku, said they were in total compliance with the national directive to observe the seven-day warning strike.
Ozonkwuaku said, “As it stands now, all our offices at the Administration Block, classrooms, faculties, departments of works and maintenance, security, and students’ affairs units are all under lock and key, and that will be the case for the next seven days until and unless the needful is done.
“The Federal Government is treating the non-teaching staff with disdain and impunity, and we are saying no to that. Members of the unions have not been paid their 2022 arrears.
“What we are beginning today is a fight to survive the present Nigerian poor economic system. We want the Federal Government to know what we are passing through economically.
“We are also doing this to let President Bola Tinubu know that the university system in the country is decaying on a daily basis.
“The unions would go back to their toolbox and decide the next line of action should the government fail to heed the unions’ demands after the seven-day warning strike.”
The unions threatened to shut down hostels and power supply in universities across the country if the Federal Government failed to meet their demands before the end of Monday.
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