ASUU raps Ondo govt on lecturers’ salaries
Coordinator of Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Anthony Emina-Monye has urged Ondo State government to, as a matter urgency, pay all arrears of salaries owed its members in Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko and Ondo state University, Okitipupa without delay noting that the Benin Zone is in solidarity with its members in Ondo state.
He also faulted the National Universities Commission (NUC) for aiding the Ondo State government by approving state universities that fall short of the required standard for accreditation.
Emina-Monye who Lamented the dearth of infrastructures and gross under funding of tertiary institutions in the Ondo state, particularly the state owned varsity ,namely Adekunle Ajasin University, Akugba Akoko, Ondo state University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa and Ondo State university of Medical Sciences, Ondo, said Adekunle Ajasin University and the Ondo state University of Science and Technology have been shut down for several months owing to the inability of the academic staff to continue to work due to non-payment of salaries and gross underfunding of the institutions.
He faulted the National Universities Commission, NUC, for aiding the state government by approving state universities that fall short of the required standard for accreditation. ” The National Universities Commission should not be complicit in the attempt by the government of Ondo State to reduce university education to a ridiculous level. The commission should pay investigative visits to these so- called universities established by the state to ascertain their true state and take necessary action.”
“Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko Staff are owed arrears of salary and deductions running into months. Between November 2015 and now, the university has not received a dime from the state government for the payment of salaries and also meet other running costs that are begging for attention. The case of Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitikpupa is very pitiable. The last time the staff received salary was in January 2016.”
He vowed that ASUU at all levels of operation, will continue to push for quality tertiary education that contrasts evidently with the present efforts of governors to turn university education to political signposting and patronage.
Emina-Monye also decried the face of gross underfunding of these universities in the state, frowned at the establishment of the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences, a third university also located in the state.”For a state that does not have a relatively well-off financial base and that is highly dependent on federal allocation to own three universities is simply absurd.”
He continued, “Education is not a revenue generating sector and so a heavy financial burden has been placed on the state. The consequences can be counterproductive. This explains the current challenges witnessed in the two older universities,” he stated.
