The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, on Thursday morning, blocked protesting members of the Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) from embarking on a protest to demand payment of their withheld salaries.
Armed Police personnel, who were deployed with Armoured vehicles and Hilux Vans, barricaded the entrance of the popular Unity Fountain in Maitama District of Abuja, the meeting point of the union members.
At about 9:10am, the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Benneth Igwe, stormed the venue, telling the union leaders that they would not use Abuja streets for their protest without giving any reason for the blockage.
However, NASU general-secretary, Peters Adeyemi, who spoke briefly thereafter, told journalists that appropriate authorities were informed of about the planned protest.
As of the time of filing this report, members of the two unions were still barricaded inside the Unity Fountain.
The protest, which was slated for Thursday, was part of a broader wave of demonstrations that started last week Tuesday across the States and FCT by both NASU and SSANU, to voice their grievances over withheld salaries by the Federal Government.
LEADERSHIP reports how the Joint Action Committee (JAC), representing NASU and SSANU, has been grappling with longstanding issues related to welfare and university education in Nigeria.
Recall that in March 2022, the unions embarked on a strike due to the government’s failure to honour multiple agreements.
However, in 2023, President Bola Tinubu directed the payment of their withheld salaries and exclusion of universities from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform.
Nine months after the presidential directives, the unions accused the Federal Government of selective payment of withheld salaries by excluding their members.
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