ASUU STRIKE:The Fate of Students as State GOVT, BSU Management & ASUU are fighting an unending war
Academic Staff Union of Universities, Benue State University Chapter,embarked on strike on 1st of February, 2024, for the failure of last year agreement,which has not been fulfilled, but has been religiously collected from the government as claimed by ASUU Chairman, this led to another ASUU congress today, 19th of February, to decide on the strike actions, but it ends in deadlock, this make some students leader to meet with the ASUU BSU Chairman, Comr Kwaghfan Tarnongo to brief them the Union congress report, despite not considering that the state government intervene by sending top government officials to meet ASUU and that Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia beg ASUU chairman to suspend the strike
BSU-ASUU EXCOS meeting with Students Leaders
The meeting which was held at ASUU secretariat, where The Chairman of ASUU said no concrete agreement was reached by them and BSU Management, that management only paid three months of their EAA allowance out of 44months, which was only paid to few members, but management claimed they have pay all, we asked them to present the payment proof, others issue were raised but there was no serious actions taken by the management and the state government, he expressed is feelings that he was also pained and also urged the students to be patient that they are waiting for government actions towards implementing what they promised. ASUU Vice Chairman Comr Sule and Secretary Comr Gajir also plead with students to avoid violence on campus as a means of settling the issues between them and management, that they should have the hope of resuming soon, FIRST CLASS GISTS also gathered that ASUU BSU will be meeting with Benue State House of Assembly on Wednesday, 21st of February.
STUDENT LEADERS MEETING
Student leaders met at ALGON hall to discuss the way forward, where they resort to meeting with the Vice Chancellor as the head of the management,to know the fate of the students on resumption or closure of campus, on their way to VC office, the Vice Chancellor told them to mobilize more students to College of Health Sciences, Auditorium by 2:00PM for latest update and also invite ASUU EXCOS to the meeting, he also told them that he is still waiting for Secretary to State Government, Prof.Joseph Alakali response, before shutting down campus.
Management meeting with Students at CHS Auditorium
Vice Chancellor, Prof Tor Lorapuu introduced the management team that were in attendance, which are the University Dean of Students Affairs , Librarian, Bursar, Registrar, DVC Admin, DVC Academic and the Provost of College of Health Sciences.
The Vice Chancellor ordered the DVC Academic, Prof Simon Ubwa to present all the payment they have made so far, which he did .The President of Linguistic Department raised a fundamental observation when Student Union President, Comrade Nelson was not called in the meeting and asked if he has been suspended, impeached or expelled where The Vice Chancellor told him that our mission should be specific to ASUU strike not SU President issues and told the SU EXCOS to speak unbehalf of the students, but the Student Unions Ag President urges the Vice Chancellor to allow the students entirely to react, the Vice Chancellor accepted his suggestion.
Students reacted to several issues, such as what’s the progress so far partaining to ASUU strike?what were the management, Governing Council and state government actions towards ending the strike? what are the agreement being implemented? what is the fate of students? when will school be shut down? When will School hostels be closed?
The Vice Chancellor answered all the questions and urges the Students to be patient, that the state government is working on it, that he has made three month payment from User charges, which the university depend on for finance, but ASUU insisted that they have not seeing it, that they insisted on payment of EAR of 2009-2015, which even federal government haven’t paid, that they also insisted on payment of session that was merged together and that of COVID 19 months, The VC presented some documents of the payment they have paid and claim he assert that he paid more than the previous regime, despite the academic calendar instability, that he paid 250 million out of 2.9billions for pensions, 251million paid for Sundry expenses out of 257millions, GST , EPS payment e t.c
The SU Vice President, Comr Ogbaji Solomonmary also talked about the feedback from the ASUU EXCOS, where they requested for the proof of payment of the acclaimed payment by the management, but to proof for the students, the Vice Chancellor asked some Non Academic staff present at the meeting to confirm ASUU lies, which they make it clear and agreed that they received the payment, mostly after a week of their salaries, and VC challenges ASUU that they should present their pay slip, which they don’t want to present
The Vice Chancellor urges the Students to be patient till tomorrow and not to embark on any form of violence in campus and also warn the students not to involve any form of criminalities off campus, that some students names have reached him, which they will work on soon, he assured the students that if school will be shutdown or not, it will be known tomorrow morning 20th of February, Tuesday, when he receive response from State Governor through the Secretary of State Government he also call on media to invite him and ASUU chairman to know the liar
