Photo Credit: Vanguard
The Academic Staff Union of Universities at Benue State University (ASUU-BSU) has launched an indefinite strike to underscore its demands for enhanced conditions of service within the institution.
This move comes on the heels of a similar action that was temporarily suspended on June 26, 2023, following assurances from the state government and the institution’s management that the union’s concerns would be addressed.
Declaring the strike, the Branch Chairman Comrade Kwaghfan Tarnongo and Secretary, Terrumun Gajir in a statement issued weekend, regretted that its members were going on a “total, indefinite and comprehensive strike” after securing the nod of the National body for the action.
Part of the statement read: “The National body of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has approved the request by the Benue State University Branch, ASUU-BSU, to resume the strike the Branch suspended on June 26, 2023.
“The permission to proceed on this strike was formally communicated to members of the Branch on Thursday, February 1, 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, 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 Benue State Government, 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.
“Regrettably, the same cannot be said of the BSU Administration, meanwhile the University has religiously collected the 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 June 26, 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 state government from January 2023 to January 2024.
“From the foregoing, it becomes evident that the Management of Benue State University 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.
“The current strike action is embarked upon because of the following items that were not resolved by the University administration; the implementation and payment of accrued arrears of 2021, 2022, and 2023 promotions.
“The Implementation and payment of accrued arrears of annual incremental step. The April 2023 salary arrears. Shortfall in the salaries of staff of the College of Health Sciences. Payment of Earned Academic Allowance, EAA. Payment of Sundry allowances(PG, GST, EPS, SANDWICH and the Non enrolment/implementation of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHTS) amongst other issues.
“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 Benue State University Administration to ensure that the welfare concerns of the branch are conclusively resolved.”
Credit: Vanguard
