Government of Nasarawa State has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, to call off its ongoing strike, assuring the lecturers of its commitment to paying outstanding earned allowances.
The government said its commitment remained firm despite the absence of a formal written agreement on the payment of the arrears.
Labaran Magaji, the secretary to the state government, made the appeal on Tuesday in Lafia when he received the leadership of the NSUK Alumni Association, led by its national president, Nuhu Egya.
Mr Magaji, who served for six years on the NSUK governing council, said he had always advocated staff welfare and urged ASUU to trust the sincerity of Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration and return to the classrooms.
He said the administration had demonstrated its commitment to workers’ welfare through several interventions carried out without formal written agreements.
According to him, these include payment of gratuity arrears up to 2013, implementation of the new minimum wage, payment of 50 per cent of the 13th-month salary, and payment of entitlements to former deputy governors and development area administrators.
The SSG recalled that after the strike began, the state government met with the university community at Government House, where they agreed that lecturers would suspend the strike after the government made the agreed payment.
He, however, said he was concerned that the lecturers, after confirming receipt of the payment, later made another demand.
“The governor is a man of honour; he is a sincere and principled man who keeps to his word. What is happening now has a semblance of betrayal,” he said.
Mr Magaji commended the alumni association for intervening in the dispute and said he would convey its position to the governor.
He also urged ASUU to continue engaging with the government in good faith, stressing the need to protect students’ interests and the institution’s future.
Earlier, Mr Egya said the alumni association visited the SSG to appeal to the government to commit to paying the outstanding months of earned allowances in tranches.
He said that the prolonged strike had affected students’ accommodation, new admissions and preparations for the planned National Universities Commission accreditation of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.
“We cannot afford to miss such a faculty. This is a faculty that the university has been fighting for over 20 years, and we are about to lose this golden opportunity,” Mr Egya said.
He added that ASUU had indicated its readiness to suspend the strike if the government provided a written commitment to settle the outstanding arrears.
“The union has agreed that if there is a written commitment by the government to pay the remaining arrears, they are ready to call off this strike based on our intervention,” he said.
The ASUU NSUK chapter embarked on an indefinite strike on August 10 over unpaid arrears, including earned academic allowance.
(NAN)