By Our Reporters
Benue parents, particularly those whose children and wards are students of the Benue State University (BSU) have called on members of the university’s chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the ongoing strike and resume academic activities.
In separate interviews with The Voice, some of the parents noted that the ASUU strike was a national issue which BSU has nothing to do with and called for the resumption of academic activities in the interest of the students.
Mrs Iornumbe, a staff of Mount Saint Gabriel’s Secondary School said the prolonged strike had led some young people to be involved in negative vices like cultism and armed robbery, leading to jail terms and even loss of lives.
“I hereby call on the university to call off the strike so that these children can go back to school,” she appealed.
On her part, a staff of the JS Tarka University of Agriculture, Mrs Esther Tor, whose two children, are studying at BSU said, “the effects of the strike on my plans for my family are numerous. I had thought that by God’s grace, my son and I would graduate in 2023 before my husband’s retirement after which two of us will help sponsor my other children but the long strike has shattered every arrangement. Now I am just hoping on God’s new plan for me.”
Also speaking with The Voice, a widow, Mrs Grace Kume whose two daughters are studying at BSU said the development has affected her aspirations concerning her childrens’ education.
“I had high hopes that one of my girls will leave school this year and proceed to NYSC soon so that her brother, who has been out of school due to inadequate resources will also go back to school but unfortunately, the strike has continued to linger,” she said.
She, therefore, called on the Federal Government to quickly resolve the issues raised by ASUU so that universities across the country can resume, in order to mitigate its economic and social effects on society.
Other parents, including a staff of JS Tarka University, Mr John Obekpa, as well as Mrs Felicia Iorpuu and a retired director from the Benue State Civil Service, who didn’t want his name in print also bared their minds.
Mr Obekpa, while expressing disappointment over the federal government’s failure to resolve the issue also noted that even if ASUU calls off the strike, BSU may not respond immediately as the university’s chapter of the union also has outstanding issues.
He, therefore, called on the Benue State government to engage the leadership of BSU-ASUU to avoid prolonging the strike after the national body might have called off.
The retired director also appealed to government to ensure that the striking schools resume for children to go back to school as they have been at home for too long.
Some parents, who reside in Otukpo, including Mrs Anna Isawa and Mr Donald Onogwu also called for an end to the strike in BSU as according to them, the institution’s lecturers are not being owed salaries.
Meanwhile, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom recently called on the ASUU-BSU to end what he termed sympathy strike and immediately resume academic activities or risk not being paid.
However, some members of ASUU, BSU chapter, who reacted to the governor’s call for them to go back to classes said they were not on a sympathy strike but also have unresolved issues.
According to the Chairman, ASUU-BSU, Dr Kwaghfan Tarnongo; “We are a full chartered branch of ASUU. We are a respected branch of the union so there is nothing like sympathy strike. We are fully on strike with our national body. In any case, BSU shall also get a full measure of the benefits that would come from the strike.
“I think that the state government, if they are taking this matter serious, should be more concerned about the pending local strike that will take place after the national strike, that is where they should channel their energy.
“BSU has its own internal problems outside of the national issues that also affect us such as arrears of earned academic allowances, promotion arrears among others and the Benue State government knows we have genuine demands.
“The governor has done well in terms of salary payment. We were on strike when he came on board and it was because of him that we suspended the strike. Now that he’s about leaving, I think that he should try to go out in a bliss of glory as far as BSU is concerned.”
Another member of the union, Prof. Gowon Doki of Theatre Arts Department, BSU, said: “Firstly, I must commend Governor Samuel Ortom for always paying our salaries even during the strike so I have cause to believe that he may have gotten things mixed up this time which is the problem most people have. They think our joining the strike is solidarity, there is nothing like sympathy strike.
“ASUU-BSU is a branch of the national body so what obtains at the centre runs through the branches. We didn’t embark on a sympathy strike, we are on strike. I think if this is clear to him, he may not go the way of stopping salaries.
“ASUU is made up of people who have the ability to think, analyse, interprete and imagine situations and so what we are doing is to improve the university system and not in any way an attack on individuals or government.
“If you go round BSU, 75 percent of the structures on the campus are built by TETFund which is a brainchild 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 our actions as sympathy strike? By the time it is explained to the governor, he will understand, I know he is under pressure now, that is why he is talking that way.”
On the contrary, the Vice Chancellor, University of Mkar, Mkar, Prof. Zacharys Gundu thinks ASUU should have a rethink.
In his words: “You don’t pull down a whole system because you can claim responsibility for its success. All over the world, there is no system that can survive with this level of dysfunction. Nobody trusts our university systems again. People cannot come here for studies like we go to other countries. If you take a headcount of the numbers on a daily basis, it is increasing and that’s because they have lost faith in our system so I think the governor was right. It’s high time we became more responsible in this country.
“It’s also high time we started managing universities in such a way that each university will be responsible for their salaries and allowances. If you go to America, universities do not close in on one another. It is not what one university is paying that the other is paying,” he summed.
Recall that BSU joined the ASUU strike which has been on for over five months.