Jtimes
…As ASUU National Delegates Meet Gombe Govt Officials
A delegation from the National Headquarters of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU were in Gombe State to interact with Government officials to avert a potential strike action by members of the union in Gombe State University (GSU).
This was according to a press statement signed and made available to Jewel Times by the Information Officer Office of the Secretary to the State Government Joshua Ɗanmalam.
Intimating government officials on issues relating to the visit, the leader of the delegation from ASUU National Headquarters Professor Daniel Gongula, explained that lingering issues such as unnecessary delay in staff promotion and backlog of Earn Allowances for lecturers at Gombe State University are circumstances demanding urgent government attention.
He observed that any laxity on the part of government to address these issues and some others, can kill the moral of staff, disrupt their interest in conducting research and ultimately leads to an industrial action.
Professor Daniel Gongula explains that funding university education is an essential component that will make it to either succeed or fail.
He noted that if a university is under-funded, it will assume the position of a glorified secondary school, hence the need for the government to fund its institutions of higher learning without necessary waiting for an intervention agencies such as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Responding on behalf of the Gombe State Government, the chief scribe of the state, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njoɗi intimated the visiting team that the administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya places premium on education at all levels.
He remarked that in spite of paucity of funds, the present administration in the state has substantially met some of the demands of union members at the Gombe State University.
It was for this reason that the secretary to the state government disclosed that the State Executive Council is gearing towards approving over nine hundred and forty seven million Naira for payment of backlog owed to the state own university lecturers.
He said the government is concern and will do everything within the state government ability to ensure that what is due to the institution is given to them.
