Videos: Gombe University Lecturers Protest over Salaries, others
By Chima Azubuike
Hundreds of varsity lecturers in Gombe, on Tuesday embarked on protest march across their campuses, over salaries and other infractions, urging authorities to respect Memorandum of Action (MoA).
PERISCOPE NIGERIA reports that their plea include; funding for revitalisation of public Universities, Earned Academic Allowances, Proliferation of Public Universities, Visitation Panels/Release of White Papers and University Transparency and Accountability (UTAS).
The protesting lecturers comprised of Gombe State University a state owned varsity and Federal University Kashere owned by the Federal Government.
Our Correspondent reports that some of the placards members of ASUU displayed include; we are not causal staff, Lecturers are not civil servants, pay us our salaries, Don’t kill the goose that lays the Golden egg, Teachers are not beggars pay us our entitlements.
Addressing Journalists shortly after protesting from LT 10 lecture theatre to main campus gate, Chairperson of Gombe State University branch of Academic Staff Union of Universities Dr. Suleiman Jauro, decried the efforts of government describing it as diversionary.
Recall that ASUU members in GSU are been owed August, September leading to threat to withhold results.
Jauro said, “The government failed to satisfactorily address the issues that necessitated the strike while the union in obedience to the Industrial Courts injunction and the intervention of the Speaker, House of Representative suspended its 8-month old action.
“Furthermore, the union has chosen to remain calm and not to repay government in its own coin. We understand that the agents of private and foreign universities and their collaborators in Government are determined to force the children of the masses who are the students of the public universities into either patronising private universities or becoming drop-outs.”
In the same vein, the Chairperson of ASUU FUK Dr. Shehu El-Rasheed, who led members from their secretariat to the third gate on campus said withholding of their salaries amounted to wickedness.
He said the essence of the protest was to draw the attention of parents and students to the sufferings of lecturers, adding that government should respect the Memorandum of Action in the interest of the Nation.
“The union observes that withholding members’ salaries for seven (7) months is not only diversionary but wickedness by the agents of the Federal Government to jeopardise the efforts of members from pursuing the legitimate demands of the union aimed at members’ welfare and funding of public universities,” El-Rasheed added.
Also speaking, the Immediate Past Chairperson ASUU FUK, Adam Salihu, lamented the saying of government that ASUU is not an income generating agency, describing it as taboo.
Salihu noted that their contributions to the country is overwhelming, “we have taken it upon ourselves to ensure we reduce the illiteracy level of the country and ensure the literacy level increases,” he added.
