Resume work or forfeits salary, Katsina govt tells ASUU

The Katsina State House of Assembly has threatened to stop the salary of striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the Umaru Musa Yar’adua University (UMYU) chapter if they fail to resume back to work by September 19, 2022.

Alhaji Shamsudeen Dabai, the Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education, said the striking lecturers have been given a three weeks ultimatum beginning from September 5.

According to him, failure to resume work by the lecturers at the end of the three weeks, the assembly will order the state government to stop their salaries.

He explained that the assembly took the decision following a report presented before it by the committee during its plenary.

“We had a series of discussions with the UMYU chapter of the ASUU, their zonal and the national leadership on this issue. After the meetings, we presented our report before the assembly, where some of our suggestions were agreed on, and some were not approved.

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“Out of what the assembly agreed on was the three weeks ultimatum to resume work or their salaries should be stopped by the government or something similar to that.

“During our meeting with the ASUU and the Special Adviser to Gov. Aminu Masari on Higher Education, Alhaji Bashir Ruwangodiya, they presented their complaints.

“Therefore, we agreed that they should write their complaints to the state government, and the government will look at it within two weeks.”

He explained that the prolonged ASUU strike was causing a lot of setbacks to the education sector, particularly to the students.

According to Dabai, the strike has made most of the students redundant, leading them to commit crimes and other social vices.

“When the students are going to school, it keeps them busy and also keeps them away from negative thinking. Like you know, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop,” he said.