The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the Kogi State University, Anyigba, on Wednesday vowed to continue with its strike action until the state government meet its demand.
The lecturers said about 200 of their members were screened out of service during the recently concluded staff verification exercise.
The chairman, ASUU-KSU, Dr Daniel Aina, while addressing newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital, said the ongoing strike could only be suspended when all issues relating to arrears of salaries, 2015 employment, contract and sabbatical staff were resolved.
The union also said government must resume the monthly installmental payment of the 2009-2014 arrears of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).
“The Kogi State University management must pay up the outstanding balance of the 2014/2015 arrears of the EAA,” said Aina.
The union, which commended the government for reconstituting the governing council of the university, however said the more serious issue of payment of arrears of salaries to all categories of its members had not been addressed.
The chairman said the union had at the inaugural meeting of the governing council charged it to expedite action on the resolution of uncleared staff and payment of arrears of salaries.
He said, “This was to create a pathway for the amicable resolution of all outstanding issues before the 24th of April 2017. ASUU’s suggestion would seem to have been jettisoned. This is because while staff of other tertiary institutions in Kogi state who have been on strike, have received their February and March 2017 salaries, those of KSU, Anyigba are yet to be paid”.
The lecturers expressed concerns over the consistently deteriorating working conditions of the academic staff of the university that had led to mass exodus of staff.
It also noted a sharp reduction in the funding of the institution by government, regretting that infrastructural and staff development in the school had been left in the hands of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the NEEDS assessment.
The union however condemned the disruption of the peaceful protest embarked upon by students of the university, their arrests, rough handling and detention by security agents while trying to draw government’s attention to their plight.
Credit: Tribune
