OSBC Osun State Broadcasting Corporation
THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has decried the growing rate of insecurity in tertiary institutions in the country, saying none of its members is safe.
The President of SSANU, Ibrahim Haruna, therefore, demanded firearms licence for campus security operatives across the country, noting that the security agencies were already overwhelmed by the various security challenges confronting the nation.
Haruna spoke at the SSANU National Executive Council meeting in Abuja over the weekend, shortly after the students and staff of Greenfield University, Kaduna, regained their freedom after spending 40 days in kidnappers’ den.
He stated, “We are here to deliberate on a wide range of issues. Topmost among those issues are the security of our members who work in the university environment.
“Our members can’t travel freely, they can’t move around with ease; anytime they do so, they get kidnapped. This is unacceptable.”
“We are calling on the Federal Government to license our security men on campuses who are our members, train and re-train them from time to time and monitor them. By doing this, security challenges in our institutions will reduce,” the SSANU President noted.
The union also cautioned the government not to paralyse academic activities in tertiary institutions with its lackadaisical attitude towards the implementation of the Memorandum of Action both parties signed.
He explained that only three out of eight of their demands had been addressed partially by the government, noting that the suspended strike may resume if the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and others that have continued to make SSANU members poorer were not quickly addressed.
Recall that SSANU had embarked on strike over alleged injustice in sharing formula of N40 billion Earned Allowance and non-payment of the minimum wage arrears, delay in renegotiation of FG/NASU and SSANU 2009 agreement, non-payment of retirement benefits of outgone members, among others.