Chairman of NLC, Akwa Ibom State, Comrade Sunny James (middle) addressing staff of the Akwa Ibom State University,AKSU, during a protest on Monday.
By Ekemini Simon
Staff of Akwa Ibom State University, AKSU, have commenced an indefinite strike action to press home their demands.
Members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and National Association of Technologists in Engineering ( NATE) blocked the gate of the institution on Monday.
The protesting staff of the university said they are being owed 25 percent of their salary for 11 months, promotion arrears and leave grant.
Chairman of ASUU in the university, Comrade Ime Okpop said that their salaries were being deducted unilaterally every month.
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He said despite failure to implement the new minimum wage, management of AKSU was paying 75 per cent of salary to staff without giving any explanation to such anomaly.
Okpop noted that when staff of the institution protested in February 2020, the management paid full salary in March with the new minimum wage, thereafter returned to paying 75 percent of their salary.
“We used to receive our leave grant. But in the last two years, we have been struggling to get it even when the Governor approved it. This year, we have not gotten it. The Governor has paid almost everyone’s leave grant but we have not gotten ours”.
“When you are promoted from a particular grade to another, there is no salary increment. As such, we can’t work here and pretend. We have made the Governor to be aware of it yet he has not made any policy statement about it.”
“Till date, the Vice Chancellor has not called a congregation to address us. The whole problem was orchestrated by the former Vice Chancellor who is now the Commissioner for Works”, Chairman of ASUU in the university said.
Addressing the protesting staff, Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State Council, Comrade Sunny James, wondered why staff emoluments were still unpaid two months after the committee instituted to address the issue had submitted her recommendations through a white paper to the State Executive Council.
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“The recommendations we gave were discussed at Exco. That the matter is still pending is condemnable and totally unacceptable.”
The NLC Chairman blamed the immediate past Vice Chancellor of AKSU, Prof Eno Ibanga, for causing the problem faced in AKSU pointing to lack of transparency and accountability in management of the finances of the institution under Ibanga’s administration.
“I can tell you that even the Akwa Ibom State Government does not know the number of workers in AKSU. The Committee asked the management to supply the Committee with the figure and numbers of staff. Figures from the Bursar, Registrar and Vice Chancellor were different. The eight faculties supplied the number of students per faculty in comparison with the portal, it was at variance with more than a thousand.”
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Comrade James charged the staff to be united in their struggle.
Attempts to speak with the Vice Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University, Prof Nse Essien were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls, WhatsApp and text messages sent to his known phone line as of press time.
