The branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Benue State University (BSU) has declared an indefinite strike in response to the management’s inability to uphold their end of the agreements.
This is stated in a statement that the union’s secretary, Terrumun Gajir, and chairperson, Kwaghfan Tarnongo, both signed on Friday.
However, the union praised the Benue government for consistently paying the university and absolved it of any wrongdoing.
It said the union’s national body approved its request to embark on the indefinite strike, and it would continue until their demands were met.
“The national body of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has approved the request by the BSU to resume the strike it suspended on June 26, 2023.
“The permission to proceed on this strike was formally communicated to members of the Branch on Thursday at an emergency congress,‘’ it stated.
The union listed its demands to include the implementation and payment of accrued arrears of 2021, 2022 and 2023 promotions and annual incremental steps.
The other ones are the salary arrears for April 2023, the College of Health Sciences personnel salary shortfall, the payment of the Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), and the payment of sundry allowances.
The demands also include the non-enrolment and implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme , amongst other issues.
It said that despite several engagements with the union, BSU management had declined to address the union’s concerns about welfare.
“The most provocative of all is the tripartite agreement reached in January 2023 between the Benue government, BSU management and the governing council and ASUU-BSU.
“This agreement, which stipulated increased funding to the university to address the issues of promotion and annual increment, is a road map to industrial harmony in BSU.
“The state government has kept its part of the agreement and has continued to sustain the additional funds to the university for specific purposes,’’ it said.
It alleged that the management of the BSU administration had collected the additional funds from the government but refused to pay the staff their entitlements.
“This breach of the January 2023 agreement by the management of BSU led to the May 2023 strike by the branch,“ he said.
It stated that the union called off the strike in June 2023 after receiving assurances from BSU management to uphold the terms of the January 2023 agreement.
The union said that since the institution began receiving funding from the state government in January 2023, it has not paid the arrears of annual increments, in violation of the terms of the agreement.
The union disagreed with the university management in December 2023 for withholding their November salaries over their refusal to submit the 2020/2021 examination scores.
Speaking on the strike, a senior official of the university who spoke to journalists anonymously said the management would make a statement after their meeting.