You Can’t Threaten Me With Strike, Kefas Tells ASUU

Taraba State governor, Agbu Kefas, has warned the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Taraba State University chapter not to threaten him with any strike.

The governor stated this when he interacted with journalists at the Government House, Jalingo, on the activities of his administration on his first year in office.

Kefas, who responded to questions on the ongoing wrangling between the state government and the university’s academic staff, said the union cannot embark on the strike if its members are sincere.
ASUU grievances include the payment of pensions and gratuities, the non-implementation of Law No.4 of the Taraba State House of Assembly on funding, the non-payment of their earned academic allowances and non-implementation of the memorandum of action (MoA).

The law outlines the funding sources for the university, which include five percent of the monthly state statutory allocation, five percent of the monthly allocation of local governments in the state, 2.5 percent of contracts awarded by the state and local governments, two percent as state education levy from charges on guests in hotels in the state.

The university academic staff recently threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if the issues were not resolved by the state government.

But the governor said, “We recently set up a visiting panel to the institution. The panel submitted its report to us. We have gotten the actual number of university staff. ASUU cannot compel us to pay money to ghost workers.

“We are ready to pay all the upstanding allowances, but they must be to the genuine workers, not what ASUU claims. If they choose to embark on any strike, we also have our own actions against them.”
Reacting to the governor’s statement, Comrade Joshua Mbave, the chairman of the institution’s ASUU, said the union was not threatening the governor but rather making legal demands about their genuine wages.

Mbave, who spoke to LEADERSHIP on the phone, said the union would soon meet with its members to discuss appropriate actions.