The Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities said the ongoing strike is a long-term battle involving even vice-chancellors, bursars and registrars.

On Monday, the JAC of SSANU and NASU embarked on an indefinite strike over its four-month withheld salary.

Since then, activities have been grounded in universities across the country.

In an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, the National President of SSANU, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, said university executives, including vice-chancellors, bursars, and registrars, did not receive salaries for four months.

He said as a result, the universities would remain completely shut down until the payments were made.

He added that the unions reported massive compliance with the ongoing strike across all universities nationwide.

Ibrahim also revealed that there had been no invitation or any form of interference from the government.

He said, “It is a long-term battle because this strike also involves vice-chancellors, bursars, registrars, and other senior administrators who were not paid.

“The impact is significant, and no one from the government has reached out to us. We have withdrawn our services, and our members are resolute they will not return to work until all salaries are paid.”

He added that compliance with the strike was encouraging, achieving 98 per cent adherence.

“We have achieved 98 per cent compliance with the strike; it is a total strike if you look around. The remaining two per cent are those who held their congress today, and they will join fully tomorrow,” he said.

Both Ibrahim and Vice President of SSANU, Abdussobur Salaam, noted that there had been no official response from the government on the strike.

The former Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, was relieved of his position last week, and a new minister, Dr Tunji Alausa, is expected to take over today, following President Bola Tinubu’s directive that former ministers should hand over by October 30.

Prof Mamman was among the five ministers relieved of their positions by the President after a Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday.

One of the issues facing the substantive minister, Dr Alausa, as he assumes duty today is the SSANU and NASU strike.

Salaam, however, said there had been no official communication from the government regarding the ongoing strike by the union.

“There’s no update on the ongoing strike, it continues. Some informal contacts were made between the minister of state for education and our union executives, but there’s been no real progress, just an informal appeal.

“This issue has persisted for a long time, with repeated promises that have not been fulfilled.

“All our ultimatums have expired, and we still haven’t received any alerts. The recent invitation was just an informal call on the phone. We urge the authorities to take decisive action; we have come too far and can no longer accept empty promises. If we don’t get the alerts we won’t back down, Salaam said.

A statement made available to The PUNCH on Sunday and signed by National President, SSANU, Ibrahim and General Secretary, NASU, Peters Adeyemi, said the ultimatum it gave the Federal Government over its withheld salaries expired on Sunday midnight.

The unions were demanding, among others, the payment of the four-month withheld salaries, improved remuneration, earned allowances and implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.