By Faith Igbudu
Academic Staff Union of Universities, Benue State University, Makurdi (ASUU-BSU) has rejected the appeal from Parents/Stakeholders’ Forum (PSF) to pull out of the strike embarked on by national body of the union.
The forum had last week appealed to the union in the state institution to pull out of the strike to enable them continue with the academic calendar.
Chairman, ASUU-BSU, Dr Victor Tarnongu, who was present at the meeting promised to present the demands of the PSF to the appropriate authorities.
However, in the branch union’s meeting held September 22, 2022, it resolved that the branch cannot pull out from the strike, saying that will mean spiting the national union.
In a telephone interview with The Voice, Tarnongu said the union resolved that pulling out of the strike is not a wise decision. “This is a national action, it is not a local action, so it is not within our powers to determine the outcome,” he stated.
He said: “ASUU is Academic Staff Union of Universities and Benue State University is a branch of this union, so what obtains at the centre runs through the branches. We didn’t embark on a sympathy strike, we are on strike.
“If you go around BSU, 75 percent of the structures on that campus are built by TETFund. TETFund is a brain child of ASUU. Imagine BSU without the intervention of TETFund, where would we have been? and then you want us to pull out? and you refer to us as people who are embarking on sympathy strike?”
Recall that ASUU commenced its ongoing strike on February 14, 2022, after the Federal Government refused to meet some of its demands, including the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the UTAS.
