…Union decries Unending Students Holiday
By Okhide Em’ya David
Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Chapter, Ekpoma of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)has insisted that Authorities of the University, and by extension the Edo State Government are indebted to the staff of the University to the tune of more than N1 billion in non-payment of salaries for four months, check-off dues and other deductions from salaries of staff since march, 2020.
ASUU, in a categorical reaction to reports credited to the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, that denied owing salaries and emoluments, asked the State government to verify the true state of finances in the University as it relates to the payment of salaries and emoluments of workers.
The Chairman of ASUU AAU, Chapter Dr. Monday Igbafen, in a statement said it was not true that the government is not owing salaries and emoluments at the University remarking that government cannot run away from the reality of huge debt the University owes workers as a result of non-payment of salaries for four months running and check-off dues and other deductions since March this year.
Dr. Monday Igbafen pleaded that Workers of the University were passing through sever hardship, pains and humiliation as there are no funds for them to meet basic and other needs and asked the government to sort themselves out on this matter of salaries to ensure the workers receive their wages and other earnings without unnecessary politics.
Igbafen reaffirmed the urgent need for government to sort out the crisis of salary payment in the University to avert possible continuation of strike in the university after the resolution of the ongoing nation-wide strike in public universities.
In particular, the Union urged students and parents to prevail on the University Administration and government to swiftly resolve the salary crisis now because as Igbafen puts it: “lecturers cannot bear the hardship of non-payment of salaries to resume academic activities in the University after the resolution of the national strike.
Igbafen restated the advice that the salary crisis in the University should, in this period of nation-wide strike, be sorted out to avoid the continual keeping of students of the University at home after the end of the nation-wide strike.
