The three non-academic staff unions in the universities have said that failure of the Federal Government to address their agitations, along that of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), would lead to a declaration of industrial dispute.

General Secretary of Non-Academic Staff of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), Peters Adeyemi, who spoke with The Guardian in Abuja at the weekend, said that the unions that include NASU, National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have directed their branches to begin collation of views of members on the response of the unions to the on-going negotiations between the Federal Government and ASUU.

He stated that the Federal Government should brace up for industrial showdown if the negotiations do not include the agitations of the non-academic staff unions.

Adeyemi, who is also Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said that addressing the issues concurrently would be easy for government since most of the issues canvassed by the academic and non-academic unions are similar.

His words: “I think it is important to sound a note of warning to the Federal Government that they would be treading a very dangerous path if they take the non-academic unions for granted. If they take our maturity for granted and concede to demands of ASUU and fail to address our demands as well, we will then show government that we cannot just bark, but can equally bite.”

The NASU scribe said resolving the on-going industrial crisis requires the supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly, saying: “The re-negotiation would involve money and nobody in government can do this except Buhari working with the National Assembly.” (The Guardian)

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