MAKURDI – The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Benue State University (ASUU-BSU), branch has resumed the strike action, it called off in June, 2023, insisting that unless the management of the University, headed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Tor Iorapuu addresses issues raised by the Union, it would not call off the strike.
The strike is a resumption of an initial action that the Association called off last June, to pave way for the Benue State Government (BNSG) and the management of the university to address issues of concern raised by the Union.
The Association disclosed this in a six point press release made available to Daily Independent in Makurdi on Friday and signed the Chairperson, ASUU- BSU, Comrade Kwaghfan Tarnongo and Secretary, Terrumun Gajir.
ASUU-BSU also said it has received the approval of the National body of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUUNational), to resume the strike.
Some issues raised by the Association for downing tools include: the non-implementation and non-payment of accrued arrears of 2021, 2022, and 2023 promotions; non-payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA); non-payment of Sundry allowances(PG, GST, EPS, SANDWICH etc)
Others are the non-implementation and non-payment of accrued arrears of annual incremental step and April 2023 salary arrears; shortfall in the salaries of staff of the College of Health Sciences as well as Non enrolment/implementation of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHTS) amongst other issues.
The Union observed that even though the BNSG has addressed some of the concerns raised by ASUU-BSU, it lamented that the BSU management has remained indifferent to the issues raised by the body.
According to the statement, “The National body of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUUNational) has approved the request by ASUU-BSU, to resume the strike the branch suspended on the 26th June, 2023.
“The permission to proceed on this strike was formally communicated to members of the Branch on Thursday 1st February, 2024 on the floor of an emergency Congress held at the Arts Theatre Complex.
“The strike action is Total, Indefinite And Comprehensive until all the demands of the Branch are satisfactorily addressed by the Benue State University (BSU) Administration.
“It is no longer news that the BSU Administration has refused to address the welfare concerns of the Union after series of engagements.
“The most provocative of these was a tripartite agreement reached in January 2023 between the Benue State Government (BNSG), BSU Administration and Governing Council and ASUU-BSU.
“This agreement which stipulated increased funding to the university to address the issues of promotion and annual increment was a road map to industrial harmony in BSU.
“To the credit of the BNSG, it has kept its part of the agreement and has continued to sustain the additional funds to the university for the specific purposes of implementing promotions and annual increment and to defray the accumulated arrears thereof.”
ASUU-BSU, however said that “Regrettably, the same cannot be said of the BSU Administration, while the University has religiously collected additional funds from government, but has refused to pay the staff their entitlements. This breach of the January 2023 agreement by the BSU Administration led to the May 2023 strike by the Branch.
“ASUU-BSU graciously suspended this strike on the 26th June, 2023, following assurances by the BSU Administration to adhere to the January 2023, agreement.
“Unfortunately, the University has remained in breach of the agreement by failing to pay the arrears of annual increment since it started collecting the funds from the BNSG from January, 2023 to January, 2024.”
The Union noted that “From the foregoing, it becomes evident that the management (of) BSU has virtually pushed the Branch into the current strike action by its apathy to the welfare concerns and legitimate entitlements of Academic Staff of the University.
“ASUU BSU, issues this statement to inform the public about the reasons for the current strike and the efforts the Branch had made to avert it through dialogue with the BSU Administration.
We regret that our efforts at dialogue have not achieved the desired expectations.
“We implore our students, the Benue public and BSU stakeholders, at large, to prevail on the BSU Administration to ensure that the welfare concerns of the branch are conclusively resolved”, the Association pleaded. End
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