The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have threatened to disrupt industrial peace in universities should the government fail to release the withheld salaries of members, seized by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari during their strike in 2022.

The unions, in a joint letter signed on Friday by the President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim and General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, queried the rationale with which the government released four months withheld salaries to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) but failed to release the withheld salaries of non-academic staff.

The unions noted that they would no longer be able to assure the government of industrial peace in universities should the amounts owed by the government are not released.

The letter partly reads, “We are therefore shocked that two weeks after the letters had been sent and received by the appropriate quarters, the Federal Government has remained quiet and refused to take any step towards addressing this very sensitive issue and it seems as if the Federal Government is taking our maturity for granted.

“We like to confirm through this medium once again to the Federal Government that the pressure on us has intensified and we have done everything possible within our ambit to prevail on our members to maintain industrial peace and tranquility.

“While we appreciate the Federal Government for paying our Academic counterpart, we also deem it necessary that our members are also paid. The various feelers we are getting from our members in the universities and inter-university centres indicate that we can no longer guarantee and be able to sustain industrial peace in the university sector”.