Over a hundred days into the ongoing strike declared by the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities of the Kogi State University, students and lecturers have decried the perennial crisis that has crippled activities at the institution.
The institution, it was gathered, has not enjoyed a crisis-free semester in recent times owing to the frequent faceoff between the lecturers and the university management. Currently, five other state-owned higher institutions in addition to KSU, have been on strike.
The other institutions include Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja; College of Education, Ankpa; College of Education (Technical), Kabba; School of Nursing, Okene; and the College of Health Technology, Ede.
The long strike by the lecturers has become a source of worry to the stakeholders. Barely a month after students of KSU resumed from an earlier compulsory break, they were forced to go back home, again due to the strike embarked upon by the lecturers.
Prior to the strike action, fresh undergraduates were admitted into KSU for various programmes, which they were yet to commence before the strike began.
The Point gathered that some of the students of KSU have already decided to leave the school for other higher institutions.
Some of the students were also said to have sat for the recently conducted University Tertiary Matriculation Examination to seek fresh admission elsewhere.
One of such students, Grace Kolade, a 200 level Microbiology student, lamented the persistent strike at KSU, which she said had disrupted and delayed her education.
Kolade told our correspondent that she decided to sit for this year’s UTME not only because of the current strike at KSU, but also due to the falling standard of tuition at the university due to incessant industrial dispute between the lecturers and the management of KSU.
She stated that as the strike action dragged on, many valuable lecturers of the university had decided to seek greener pastures in other similar institutions with more stable academic calendar.
Kolade said, “I had to register for JAMB again because of the consistent strike actions in KSU.
My experience as a student from Pre-degree to my 200 level has not been palatable. If we don’t go on strike in the first semester, we go the next semester. But KSU lecturers must go on strike during each session just because of unpaid salaries.
To cap it all, Lecturers are even forfeiting the salaries for appointments at other Federal universities. When all the Lecturers leave and we finally resume, who would teach us?” Similarly, Victor Ojo, a fresh student of Economics, lamented that the students were supposed to resume the week the strike began.
Ojo said that his friends, who secured admission to other universities at the same time he did, had already concluded their first semester. “I will say that I regret choosing a school in Kogi State.
When I went to the school for screening; that was when I realised that the school goes on strike every time. I was happy when I first gained admission, but now not anymore. I do not think I will be able to continue here with the lecturers embarking on strike often because of unpaid salary,” he said.
Our correspondent gathered that some lecturers had been forced by the prolonged strike to seek alternative jobs in order to fend for the members of their families. Others without alternative means of livelihood are, however, said to be going through hard times.
A lecturer in the Mass Communication Department of KSU, Mr. Ben Onoja, said, “Since we embarked on this action, we have not been paid. While some were paid, others are left to suffer despite having worked. This is not right as we now have to struggle to feed ourselves and family members.”
An executive member of the ASUU in KSU, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that the state government deliberately withheld salaries of the union officials. He, however, vowed that the lecturers would not resume work until their demands were met by the state government, warning that the institution might remain shut for long.
“We have so many lecturers, who are on sabbatical leave, some on contracts, who usually pay check off dues to our union. Now, the governor has screened them out; it is our right to fight for them. Some of them are owed seven to 11 months’ salaries and upwards.
“It is fine by us if the governor has said he doesn’t want those lecturers he screened out anymore, but he should pay off the arrears; then they can be dismissed with sack letters. Lecturers are suffering and we can’t resume without pay,” he said.
