Benue varsity lecturers begin strike over unpaid allowance

• The union criticized the university management for neglecting its welfare concerns
  

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Benue State University experienced a halt in academic activities as lecturers initiated an indefinite strike to emphasize certain demands.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities at the institution, through a statement by Chairman Comrade Kwaghfan Tarnongo and Secretary Terrumun Gajir, declared the strike on Thursday after a meeting.

The union criticized the university management for neglecting its welfare concerns, despite multiple engagements, and referenced a tripartite agreement in January 2023 involving the Benue State Government, BSU Administration, and Governing Council, and ASUU-BSU.

The agreement aimed to increase funding for the university, addressing issues such as promotion and annual increments, viewed as crucial for achieving industrial harmony at BSU.

The union noted that the state government had kept its part of the agreement and had 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.

It, however, regretted that the university management, having collected the additional funds, had refused to pay their entitlements.

Consequently, the union in the statement, itemised reasons for embarking on the indefinite strike, among them are; “implementation and payment of accrued arrears of 2021, 2022, and 2023 promotions.

“Implementation and payment of accrued arrears of annual incremental step, April 2023 salary arrears, shortfall in the salaries of staff of the College of Health Sciences.

“Others are payment of Earned Academic Allowance, payment of sundry allowances (PG, GST, EPS, SANDWICH etc), non-enrolment/implementation of National Health Insurance Scheme 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.”