Salary: Students Protest as Taraba Varsity Workers Boycott Exams

  Ibadan Poly lifts suspension on students’ unionism

Students of the Taraba State University, Jalingo yesterday blocked some of the major entry points into the city,  demanding the payment of 10-month salary arrears  the Taraba Government is owing to staff of the university.

This is just as  the management of The Polytechnic, Ibadan has lifted the suspension earlier placed on the institution’s Students’ Union Government.

It was gathered that the protest in Taraba followed the decision of all the university unions including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities not to continue with the examination scheduled to commence  yesterday, January 9.

The unions had  yesterday morning locked examination halls over non-payment of their entitlements as students who prepared for the examination were left stranded.

Worried by the inability of the university management and the state government to pay the staff their entitlements for 10 months, the students matched to the office of the  Vice Chancellor (VC) to present  their grievances, but  the VC was not on sea.

Consequently, the students  proceeded to block the nearby Jalingo-Bali federal highway.

The protesting students also burnt tyres around the school carrying placards with inscriptions which read, “Governor Ishaku pay our lecturers, they have families,” “Don’t stampede our future,” and “you don’t mean well for Taraba” among others.

According to the students,  the  failure of Governor Darius Ishaku to pay the lecturers further demonstrated his lack of capacity to govern the state.

 “Instead of addressing our demands and secure our future, the governor ordered police to teargas us on our way to the Government House to register our protest,”  one the students said.

Workers of the university have last week protested over non-payment of their salaries and threatened the “No salary No exams” action.

The VC of the university,  Prof. Sunday Bako, while addressing the protesting staff members last week assured  them that the university management and the government were working hard to meet the workers’ legitimate demands.

Similarly,  the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Ishaku, Mr. Bala Dan-Abu,  had said payment of salaries had been the priority of the administration and the governor would do everything possible to address the claim of the protesting staff members.

Meanwhile, the nagement of The Polytechnic, Ibadan has lifted the suspension earlier placed on the institution’s Students’ Union Government.

This is contained in a statement issued by the institution’s Registrar, Mrs Modupe Fawale, in Ibadan  yesterday.

Fawale said that the reversal of the suspension order earlier placed on the union was based on interventions in order to allow for further consultations.

“The management has decided not to use the big stick on the students, as they have also sheathed their swords.

“The management will be holding meetings with the leadership of the students to address their perceived grievances,” she said.

The registrar, however, said that the first semester examination, scheduled to commence  yesterday remained postponed.

“A new date for the commencement of the examination will be announced to the students through appropriate channels,” she said.