…Activities paralyzed
Activities at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi have been paralyzed following the seven day warming strike embarked upon by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union under the umbrella of the Joint Action Committee.
Our Correspondent who visited the Yelwa Campus of the Institution observed that the two gates leading to the University were under lock and key which leaves placed on the gates to prevent entry or exit.
Cars and motorcycles were seen parked outside the gate as they were not allowed to go into the school or out from the school by members of the two unions who were at there to enforce compliance.
Some who came on cars and motorcycles had to turn back because of the situation at the University gate. However, the small gate was open to staff and students to go in or out on foot, as many of them were seen trekking into and out of the school.
While they were manning the gate, some management staff led by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic and acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sarki Fagam, arrived at the gate and appealed to the members of the unions to open one of the gates to allow for free flow of vehicular movements.
He said that although their actions were legal and a national directive, it was imperative for the management to appeal to them to shift grounds a bit in view of the fact that students were currently writing examinations.
“The reason we are here is because we are members of this university and we benefited from this organization and our children are there writing examinations. They have no light, they have no water and access to the University is also blocked, we all acknowledge that.
“We discussed with the leadership of your unions yesterday, they said they’re going to meet with you (the members). We did not hear anything from them, maybe you refused to tell them to go back to us. That was why we came here to see you.
“We just want to beg, solicit and appeal to you although we are not saying you shouldn’t strike, strike is a legal apparatus to be employed by workers to achieve their rights.
“We want to beg you to, please open just one gate and leave the other one closed, so that human and vehicular traffic can flow and do not allow any of your members to enter so that you can have a total strike,” he appealed.
Fagam commended the unions for their conduct saying that “I am happy with your attitude and conduct that none of you interrupted the examinations going on. Examinations are going on, it is just the entering and going out that is hindered, but I am still begging to open one of the gates.”
In an interview with journalists, the JAC Chairman, Sulisma Jatau, said that the Federal Government remained adamant to the 14 days ultimatum it gave them to meet their demands or they’ll embark on the strike action.
After the expiration of these ultimatum, the response was like a grave yard response. And since they renege to come and dialogue with us, the only language the government understands is strike and that was why we decided to embark on it. This seven day warning strike is to tell the government that we are not happy with their disposition and as you can see that close to 48 hours now, the University gate has been closed and I can tell you that the strike is 100 percent compliant.
Jatau who is also the SSANI Chairman, ATBU, while giving reasons for the industrial action, said that in 2009, they entered into an agreement with the Federal Government which was freely signed but up to this moment, about 15 years later, the agreements are yet to be honoured pointing out that “It was freely entered, nobody coarse the government to enter into it; although some of them were honoured, but many of them have not been respected up to this moment.”
He said that some of such agreements are payment of their earned allowances, constitution of visitation panels, university governing councils and salary increase.
“So, we press home our demands two years ago and they ended up enforcing a no-work-no-pay on us which ended up in us staying for six months without salaries. After signing a document with the Federal Government by the then Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, but up to now, this agreement has not yet been implemented.
“When this President (Bola Tinubu) came, he gave an order, a waiver that we should be paid four months our of those six that we were denied salaries. Unfortunately, when the Federal Government decided to pay, they paid to only one union, that is ASUU; the other three university based unions were denied.
“We engaged the Minister of Education on the matter and he promised that within one week, we will get our own payments but to our surprise, this is now four weeks, nothing has happened. So, we are saying that what is good for the goose is also good for that gander. We went on the same strike and they selected one union and paid them which we feel is a divide and rule tactics by the Federal Government.
“We are saying no that nobody is a slave here. In JAC, we are not slaves, we are very, very in the university system, infact, we are the entry point in the university system, without us nothing can happen. Now that we withdrew our services, you can see that nothing is happening – no computer, no electricity, no water, no medical center, no network for browsing, nothing is working. We are a very important organ of the university and that is what we want to tell the whole world.
“In this branch, we didn’t want to disrupt their examinations but I am telling you that it cannot be completed without us because we monitor the examinations and we do a lot of things but, writing exams in this time is going to be porous and I am telling you that we didn’t just want to interfere with the exams, but I want to tell you that it will not be a full examination that will be taking place because without us, it cannot function well,” he stated.
Asked if the unions will obliged the request of the management to open one of the gates, he said they will not because it will mean that they are not on strike pointing out they will not compromise no go into any consensus until the seven days period is over.
He said: “The management came to beg and appeal to us that we should give them some consensus which we believe is against the tenets of our union. When times come that we want to go on strike, they will tell us that we are on essential services but when it comes to enjoying somethings, they’ll tell us that we are not essential. So, this time around, we are saying that there is not going to be any compromise, no consensus, the strike is total and indefinite.”
On the plea by the management for one of the gates to be open, he said: “I told the VC that this gate belong to all of us, this strike belong to us JAC both SSANU and NASU, we are the custodians of this gate, we have withdrawn our services at this gate and we’re not going to open it.
“We’re not going to open it because if we allow the gate to be open, then it means we are not on strike, it is our own point of duty, so this gate will remain closed. We didn’t even prevent human movement, as you can see that people are going in and out on foot, we didn’t intimidate or molest anyone, but the gate will remain closed.”