The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Nasarawa State University Keffi, NSUK Branch, has called on the Nasarawa State Government to start paying the university’s teachers the over N600,000,000 in Earned Academic Allowance that they are entitled to prevent an impending breakdown of labour peace. During a peaceful demonstration on Wednesday, 26 June 2024, in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Professor Samuel Alu, the school’s ASUU chairman, issued the call.

After lecturers at Nasarawa State University Keffi peacefully protested to urge the Federal and State Governments to start implementing agreements they had reached with the union in 2019, academic and official activities were temporarily disrupted at the university.

The lecturers, who had turned out in large numbers, gathered in the university’s assembly hall and marched to the main gate. Presenting signs that read, “Save the Ivory Towers from Total Collapse,” “We Say No to Enslavement, Education is a Right that Must Be Protected,” and “Revitalization is Key to the Survival of the Nigerian Universities,”

Professor Samuel Alu, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) NSUK Branch, addressed the media and stated that public universities nationwide have been suffering from inadequate funding and staff members due to inadequate attention. He also urged the Federal and State Governments to act on their requests, which included paying Earned Academic Allowance, releasing funding to revitalise public universities, and stopping the indiscriminate expansion of colleges nationwide.

Alu emphasized that Governor Abdullahi Sule must follow the lead set by the governments of Kwara, Ekiti, and Osun State and start paying university lecturers their 35,000 Naira salary award to alleviate the impact of the removal of fuel subsidies on university staff. The Union threatened to go on indefinite industrial action if the State Government did not act within the allotted period.

Read Also: Gov poll: PDP to Inaugurates Edo and Ondo Campaign Councils