BREAKING: Go Home, Indefinite Strike Begins, ASUU Tells Students
Information reaching us that, The Academic Workers Union of Universities (ASUU) in Taraba has called an indefinite strike in protest of the government’s refusal to meet their demands.
The strike comes only a few days after the state governor, Darius Ishaku, paid off the lecturers’ four-month salary arrears at Taraba State University.
The union is striking over the non-availability of the pension scheme, won academic allowances, perimeter fencing, and other issues in the university, according to ASUU Chairman Samuel Shitaa.
The problems at hand are not unpaid wages, because we are struggling for our rights. One of our problems on the ground is the pension plan, which the institution does not have in place,” he clarified.
Since 2013, no action has been taken on the topic of won academic allowances. We brought up the question of a perimeter fence, and they confirmed that they had begun, but there has been no substantial progress since then.
“I want you to understand that the strike that has been announced is not just the branch that is in charge of the strike; this is because the protocol has been followed with the national ASUU stepping in to engage and see progress in terms of engagement, but it has failed,” he added.
Though disagreeing with the ASUU Chairman, Taraba State University Vice-Chancellor Vincent Ado-Tenebe claimed that the union’s demands have been met.
“Everything they should have said correctly is that what they have is inadequate, and I can assure you that no educational institution anywhere in the world can tell you that they have 100% of the funding that they require,” he said. Strikes aren’t the only way to fix our issues all of the time.
And if we have support to a percentage, even though it is not 100 percent, to say that the government is insensitive and does nothing is absolutely incorrect.”
