By Philip Yatai
Kaduna – The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kaduna State University (KASU) Chapter, on Tuesday joined the nationwide indefinite strike action declared by the union.
The ASUU Chairman, Dr Tukur Abdulqadir told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that they would ensure total compliance.
He said that apart from the issues raised by the national body of the union that led to the nationwide strike, the local chapter also has problems with Kaduna State Government.
“For instance, the Kaduna state government have increased pension deductions from five per cent to seven per cent, but surprisingly and unfortunately, the government has not been remitting our pension for the past four years.
“It is also interesting to note that this university is non residential, so virtually, our future is doomed,” Abdulqadir said.
According to him, the introduction of Treasury Single Account by the government has also placed the university at a disadvantage, as it has to go begging to get its money released to it.
“We are running part-time masters degree and post graduate diplomas and generating funds from such programmes.
“We have generated over N200 million this session.
“We have finished examination for first semester since May, but up to now the government has not paid us the N28 million due to us out of the over N200 million we generated.
“Therefore, without ASUU, our university is doomed.”
Meanwhile some students of the institution have described the strike embarked by ASUU as “unfortunate”.
One of them, Elisha Ephraim, a 400 level student of Political Science, who was very emotional, said the strike has shattered his plans.
“We are already about to write our final examination in two to three weeks time, but with this development, we absolutely do not know when we will graduate and we all have plans.
“I am so confused and frustrated right now, because no one knows when the strike would be called off, “he said.
For Vivian Inyang, a post graduate student, “the development will have negative impact on the students, particularly those that are almost on their way out.
“The government should please do the needful for the interest of the students who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow.” (NAN)