From: Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Activities at the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, have been grounded as a result of the on-going nationwide strike by university unions.
The institution’s chapters of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have joined their counterparts in the nationwide strike called national body of SSANU.
Rising from a joint congress, SSANU Chairman, Monday Izu, who spoke on behalf of the unions, said the decision to join the national body in the strike was not a matter of choice, but a unanimous decision.
He said the strike was necessitated by the Federal Governments’ alleged lackadaisical attitude towards the agreement on the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement which he noted that after three years, the agreement would be due for re-negotiation but the government has failed to honour the agreement it entered with the union.
“Another reason is the document concerning the staff schools in public universities across the country. The National Industrial Court gave a judgement to the effect that government should be responsible for the recurrent and capital expenditure of the staff schools as agreed in 2009.
“Till date the government has refused to comply with the court injunction and as of today, many staff school teachers are wallowing in abject poverty because the federal government has refused to pay them, thereby disregarding court judgement.
“We want to use this opportunity to call on government to meet up with all its responsibilities and obey the court judgment on the issue,” he added.
Izu stated that although, DELSU is not involved in this anomaly but “so many universities are victims of this, especially federal universities. Most of them are not receiving the full salaries; some receive 75 per cent, 80 and others 85 per cent as the case may be and this has lingered on for a longtime.”
While SSANU declared its strike with effect from September 11, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had earlier embarked on strike in August.
But DELSU’s chapter of ASUU backed out of the strike. However, the current academic vacation of the institution ensured that lecturers did not have much to do.
DELSU chapters of SSANU, NASU and NAAT did not go with ASUU as they have joined their counterparts across the country on a nationwide strike.