By Michael A.
The strike action of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU in Benue State University, BSU may be
far from over as fresh revelations and issues have
emerged.
The union which have been on strike since early March
this year are making fresh demands of payment of an
additional two months salaries and clarification on the
issue of earned allowances.
Recall that last Tuesday, the state governor, Dr Samuel
Ortom when he received final year medical students of the
institution, disclosed that the government had met ASUU’s
most basic demands of payment of May and June salaries
but all that seems to have been over taken by events,
according to the union’s chairman, Dr David Ikoni who
spoke to BENUE.COM.NG.
When asked about rumours of the strike being called off,
he said it was on and if it was called off, he’ll be the first to
know.
“(The strike has been called off) By who? You are hearing
from me now, I’m the chairman of ASUU BSU. if they call it
off, I will know. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve not called
the strike off.”
When asked about the government’s claim of meeting
their basic requirements to call off the strike, the chairman
said things had changed since those demands were made.
That they now demanded payment of an additional two
months salaries (March and April), since the state had
received a bailout from the federal government for that
purpose.
“You see, we are dealing with politicians, if he says he has
met the basic demands of the union, the time they asked
him for the basic demands has been overtaken by events.”
“At that time (the federal) government had not given them
bailout money to pay salary arrears. Now government
have given them money to pay salary arrears. So we are
waiting for him to pay our March and April salaries with
that bailout money.”
Dr Ikoni refuted rumours that he was not reachable and
was refusing to pick the Governor’s calls, saying he was
always available, day and night.
“That information is false, my line is open. How did you get
across to me that the whole chief executive cannot get
across to me?”
On the issues of earned allowances which hitherto was not
imminent as a cause of the ASUU strike, He said they now
needed clarification as to why their colleagues in some
part of the university were being paid and others weren’t.
“I called the chief of staff on Sunday, I told him about a
pending problem in BSU, that even if they pay salaries,
that will affect resumption. That pending issue is the
payment of EAA (Earned allowances) to the college of
health sciences.”
“As I’m talking to you now, our colleagues in college of
health sciences and non-academic staff have been paid
their earned academic allowances. The rest of the section
of the university have not been paid. That was on Friday
the 10th of July. On the 12th of July, I called the chief of
staff to intimate him of this development so that they will
see how they’ll address the issue but he cut me off.”
“We want them to make a statement that this is the
condition that led to the payment of EAA in the college of
health sciences and then convince us. Are we not part of
the university? Are we not entitled to that EAA? We need
explanations, these are issues.”
The state governor, Dr Samuel Ortom had last Tuesday
expressed optimism that haven paid May and June salary,
ASUU would call off before the week ran out.
“I’m looking forward that within the week, I should have a
positive response from ASUU. So, on our part we have met
all the requirements with the limited and scarce resources
that we have.”
He also said the government had received N2.7bn from
the LNG account which was not enough for even one
months salary but promised to clear other arrears with the
bailout from federal government.
“Just last Friday, I directed that, well, the auditing can still
continue, but let’s go ahead and pay. We can do the
verification in the month of July and if by the grace of God,
when we have a bailout from the federation government,
we can now clear the arrears of salaries.”.
The strike action of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU in Benue State University, BSU may be
far from over as fresh revelations and issues have
emerged.
The union which have been on strike since early March
this year are making fresh demands of payment of an
additional two months salaries and clarification on the
issue of earned allowances.
Recall that last Tuesday, the state governor, Dr Samuel
Ortom when he received final year medical students of the
institution, disclosed that the government had met ASUU’s
most basic demands of payment of May and June salaries
but all that seems to have been over taken by events,
according to the union’s chairman, Dr David Ikoni who
spoke to BENUE.COM.NG.
When asked about rumours of the strike being called off,
he said it was on and if it was called off, he’ll be the first to
know.
“(The strike has been called off) By who? You are hearing
from me now, I’m the chairman of ASUU BSU. if they call it
off, I will know. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve not called
the strike off.”
When asked about the government’s claim of meeting
their basic requirements to call off the strike, the chairman
said things had changed since those demands were made.
That they now demanded payment of an additional two
months salaries (March and April), since the state had
received a bailout from the federal government for that
purpose.
“You see, we are dealing with politicians, if he says he has
met the basic demands of the union, the time they asked
him for the basic demands has been overtaken by events.”
“At that time (the federal) government had not given them
bailout money to pay salary arrears. Now government
have given them money to pay salary arrears. So we are
waiting for him to pay our March and April salaries with
that bailout money.”
Dr Ikoni refuted rumours that he was not reachable and
was refusing to pick the Governor’s calls, saying he was
always available, day and night.
“That information is false, my line is open. How did you get
across to me that the whole chief executive cannot get
across to me?”
On the issues of earned allowances which hitherto was not
imminent as a cause of the ASUU strike, He said they now
needed clarification as to why their colleagues in some
part of the university were being paid and others weren’t.
“I called the chief of staff on Sunday, I told him about a
pending problem in BSU, that even if they pay salaries,
that will affect resumption. That pending issue is the
payment of EAA (Earned allowances) to the college of
health sciences.”
“As I’m talking to you now, our colleagues in college of
health sciences and non-academic staff have been paid
their earned academic allowances. The rest of the section
of the university have not been paid. That was on Friday
the 10th of July. On the 12th of July, I called the chief of
staff to intimate him of this development so that they will
see how they’ll address the issue but he cut me off.”
“We want them to make a statement that this is the
condition that led to the payment of EAA in the college of
health sciences and then convince us. Are we not part of
the university? Are we not entitled to that EAA? We need
explanations, these are issues.”
The state governor, Dr Samuel Ortom had last Tuesday
expressed optimism that haven paid May and June salary,
ASUU would call off before the week ran out.
“I’m looking forward that within the week, I should have a
positive response from ASUU. So, on our part we have met
all the requirements with the limited and scarce resources
that we have.”
He also said the government had received N2.7bn from
the LNG account which was not enough for even one
months salary but promised to clear other arrears with the
bailout from federal government.
“Just last Friday, I directed that, well, the auditing can still
continue, but let’s go ahead and pay. We can do the
verification in the month of July and if by the grace of God,
when we have a bailout from the federation government,
we can now clear the arrears of salaries.”.
