The Kaduna State Government has described the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Kaduna State University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) as an act of sabotage.
In a statement signed by the Commissioner of Education, Professor Muhammad Sani Bello, the state government argued that the bone of contention between ASUU and the government predated the Uba Sani administration.
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‘’But Governor Uba Sani, in his usual empathy, has taken steps to address them and other lingering demands concerning Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions in general.
‘’However, instead of allowing the process to run its full circle, ASUU has started flexing its muscles in a show of strength that will not only disrupt KASU’s academic calendar, but will reverse the gains that have been achieved so far,’’ he added.
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The statement noted that ASUU lost its voice from 2009 to 2024, spanning a period of 15 years but ‘’ in its newfound freedom, the union has now resorted to sabotaging the smooth running of the institution, with its decision to embark on a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike, starting from last Tuesday.’’
‘’Specifically, the Association’s disagreement with Kaduna State Government is over non-payment of five months salaries from May to September 2022 and Earned Academic Allowances from 2015 to 2020, among other claims,’’ the statement stated.
According to Prof Bello, ‘’ these claims pre-date the present administration but Governor Uba Sani, in his usual empathy, has taken steps to address them and other lingering demands concerning Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions in general.’’
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‘’However, instead of allowing the process to run its full circle, ASUU has started flexing its muscles in a show of strength that will not only disrupt KASU’s academic calendar, but will reverse the gains that have been achieved so far,’’ he noted.
The Commissioner disclosed that ‘’in fact, His Excellency has agreed to accede to some of their demands and he promised to meet with ASUU members when he returns from his trip, yet the unionists stuck to their guns.’’
‘’Clearly, there is a hidden agenda of rolling back the progress that the Governor Uba Sani administration has made in the education sector in the last 20 months. Indeed, some fifth columnists, hiding under the banner of unionism, are endangering the future of our children,’’ he added.
The statement recalled that ‘’for several years, ASUU had sought a roundtable with the previous administration but its efforts were unsuccessful. However, on December 18, 2024, Governor Uba Sani had met with the Management as well as leadership of Academic Unions of all State-owned Tertiary institutions for over three hours.’’
‘’Indeed, issues were raised and consensus was reached but ASUU is now trying to throw a spanner in the works of the agreements. Broadly speaking, the meeting dwelt on three main issues and top on the list was outstanding salaries and staff welfare benefits,’’ he recalled.
According to the Commissioner, Governor Uba Sani had ‘’ graciously agreed to consider them, even though they were piled up during the previous administration, but with a caveat.
‘’Governor Uba Sani argued that the debt will be paid on instalment basis, until the outstanding liability is redeemed, given the state’s financial constraints,’’ Prof Bello recalled.
‘’The academics also raised the issue of funding the institutions, for the day-to-day running of their schools. His Excellency promised that a sharing formular will be worked out, as a prelude to excluding tertiary institutions from the Treasury Single Account (TSA),’’ he added.
The Commissioner pointed out that ‘’so, it is very clear that Governor Uba Sani is committed to industrial harmony and moving tertiary education to a higher level but the KASU branch of ASUU, acting on a script, is bent on causing confusion, disrupting the university’s academic calendar and possibly to shut the university permanently.’’
The statement reminded that the Governor ‘’ is not only committed to the welfare of all staff of KASU and other tertiary institutions in Kaduna State, but is poised to make them centres of excellence.
‘’However, because of the inability of ASUU to see reason, Kaduna State Government will have to invoke the principle of ‘no work, no pay’ throughout the period of the strike action,’’ the Commissioner added.
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