Hendrix Oliomogbe
Aggrieved lecturers at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State Wednesday took to the major streets of the university town to protest against the deplorable conditions at the state owned tertiary institution.
Waving placards and banners with inscriptions such as "ASUU AAU Ekpoma FG/Edo Govt Should Pay All Withheld Salaries of ASUU Members Over 2022 ASUU Strike", "ASUU AAU Ekpoma Demands For Conclusion of FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009", "Those Who Looted AAU Funds to Should Be Brought to Book For Prosecution", "A Worker Deserves His/Her Wages", amongst others, the lecturers chanted solidarity songs.
Led by the Benin Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Monday Igbafen and AAU chairman of the union, Cyril Onogbosele, the lecturers accused Governor Godwin Obaseki, the acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sonnie Adagbonyin of being heavy handed and abandoning the school.
Defying the inclement weather, the university teachers railed against the authorities for neglecting their welfare and refusing to constitute a proper Governing Council in place of the Special Intervention Team (SIT), which has been piloting the affairs of the school for over two years.
Dr. Onogbosele who spoke at the end of the peaceful march, said that having reached the limit of their endurance, the teachers decided to stage the protest for local and national issues, which are presently bedeviling the institution.
He said: "The federal government has to conclude re-negotiations on our agreement concerning salary, funding university autonomy and so many other issues. This has dragged on for years since 2009. Many of us have not had a salary increase and have several inflation in this country such that what we earn as academics has lost value."
The ASUU chairman said that there should be an upward review of salary by the state and federal governments in line with the inflationary push.
Dr. Onogbosele slammed the authorities of AAU over their perpetuation of injustice and impunity, resulting in the non-payment of salaries to some of the teachers for over 30 months, a situation which has pauperised so many of them leading to untimely death due to their inability to pay medical bills.
He said: "They were not found guilty of any misconduct to warrant such treatment. They are still working, in the services of the university. Enough is enough of that punishment. There is also the problem of the salaries of workers who withheld for eight months during the 2022 strike. They have not still been paid. Lecturers at federal universities have been paid four months but here at AAU, the state government had not paid for one month."
Dr. Onogbosele said that the union dues of ASUU members at the state owned tertiary institution, which have been deducted from their salaries every month since 2020 should also be remitted to the union just as the issue of delay promotion should be resolved.
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