The Police in Abuja on Thursday, stopped non-teaching workers of universities from protesting at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that police operatives blocked the entrance of Unity Fountain, venue of the protest with an Armoured Personnel Carrier and Hilux vehicles thus denying the protesters access to the venue.
At about 9:10am, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igwe, was already at the venue, informing the union leaders that they would not use Abuja streets for their protest without giving any reason.
NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, said they had informed appropriate authorities about the planned protest.
Thursday’s protest was part of a nationwide action started last week Tuesday by both NASU and SSANU, to press for the payment of their withheld salaries by the Federal Government.
The university workers under the aegis of Joint Action Committee (JAC) had earlier scheduled to hold a peaceful protest to press home their demands over non-payment of their four months’ salaries.
The workers are members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
On March 2022, the four unions across universities embarked on a prolonged 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 the withheld salaries by excluding their members.
