Lack of adequate funding is a significant factor that has a detrimental impact on the efficient operation of the institution, according to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Taraba State institution (TSU).
This was announced by the union’s leadership on Thursday during a press conference in the state capital of Jalingo.
The Taraba State House of Assembly’s Law No. 4 has not been implemented, and the union pointed this out and urged the state government to take appropriate action to avoid the institution from collapsing under the leadership of its chairman, Mbave Joshua Garba.
According to Law No. 4, which is detailed in OBASANJO NEWS24, the institution receives funding from a number of sources, including 5% of the state’s local governments’ mandatory monthly allotment.
Others include 2.5% of contracts given by the federal, state, and local governments, as well as 2% of state education levies collected from hotel guests within the state.
The union also lamented the alleged non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action, or MoA, that the state government, Taraba State University administration, and the ASUU-TSU branch had signed on March 18, 2021.
It said that the government’s unfair treatment of the union was demoralising.
“The government lacks clarity regarding staff pension and gratuity, and the union members are owed Earned Academic Allowance, or EAA, dating back to 2015,” the statement reads.
The union acknowledged that its members are dying in quiet, saying, “We are owed six full months and seven months fractional salaries,” and raised the alarm over the alleged delay and irregularity in salary payments, which they claimed frequently results in fractional payment of salaries.
The union expressed concern that its members were still experiencing painful economic realities as a result of the elimination of subsidies and inflationary factors.
