The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden, has given the Akwa Ibom State Government a 14-day ultimatum to meet their demands or risk a strike.
The president of NASU at the university, Mefiok Umana, told Leadership newspaper that the strike remains sacrosanct, adding that a letter was sent to the state government on December 20 to this effect.
The affiliated unions that will join the strike are members of the Joint Action Committee, comprising NASU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the National Association of Academic Technologists.
The strike will begin on January 3, 2024.
Conflicting issues
In an interview with Newslodge on Friday, Umana said they had written at least three letters expressing their grievances to Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State but were yet to receive a response.
According to Umanah, the problems are poor funding of the institution, non-payment of arrears of salaries, leave grants and 13th month salary to university workers.
Others include lack of hostels and non-constitution of the Governing Council of the university, non-implementation of hazard subsidy at the approved rate and non-release of capital allocation for the institution.
According to Mr. Umana, workers at the institution are currently receiving N2,000 as hazard pay against the agreed rate of N15,000 for junior staff and N30,000 for senior staff.
“Most issues cannot be implemented by the vice chancellor except with the approval of the governor. For example, the payment of palliatives, the increase in subsidies: the university subsidy is grossly insufficient and the university is also underfunded. Only the governor can implement this.
“We are in a sad situation in which the university only powers its generator for two hours a day, precisely from 10 to 12 noon. It is worth asking what type of research can be carried out at the institution.
“Go there. You won’t see hostels. Our students have to stay off campus which exposes them to a lot of risks, particularly our girls who get raped from time to time.
“If you enter our school, you will notice that most of the buildings are built by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEFFUND), which means that the government at the state level is not addressing the infrastructure deficits in the institution,” he said.
When asked if a rape case had been reported due to students being left off campus, Mr. Umaña referred Newslodge to a case he claimed the wife of the immediate past governor was handling before the end of that administration.
“We have had more than two of them, particularly at the Obio Akpa campus… You know, if these boys lived in the hostel, the community boys would not come to harass them.”
Umana said the chapter had contacted the NASU state secretary and was sending a letter to the body’s national headquarters to inform them of the planned strike.
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The state Commissioner for Information, Ini Ememobong, when contacted, referred Newslodge to Idongesit Etiebet, the commissioner for education.
When our reporter contacted Ms. Etiebet on Friday, she asked him to send her questions via text message, which the reporter did. However, she did not respond to the message at the time of filing this report.