"UNIJOS SENATE NOT INSENSITIVE TO ONGOING ASUU STRIKE"management

The administration of the University of Jos
(Unijos) yesterday said the Senate of the
institution is not insensitive to the prolonged
strike by members of the branch of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Spokesman of the university, Abdullahi Abdullahi
told Daily Trust on phone that the university has
started a process that will lead to the resolution
of the industrial dispute in the next two weeks.
The strike, which commenced in the latte days of
September has clocked the ninth week, stalling
the resumption of students for the first semester
for about three months now. The strike was
meant to press the implementation of agreement
on six demands, major among which is the failure
to disburse the Earned Academic Allowances for
2009 to 2012.
Chairman of ASUU, Dr. Christopher Piwuna had
earlier accused both the governing council and
Senate of the university of being too silent over
the prolonged strike.
But Abdullahi Abdullahi said the Senate is
concerned, and that such concern had led to the
payment of an entitlement called Responsibility
Allowance for 2016 to the tune of about N136
million within the week, although not part of the
issues in contention between the administration
and the union.
“The university is at the point of resolving the
issues; in the next two weeks, the university will
meet this obligation to the satisfaction of all
parties,” Abdullahi said.
But Dr. Piwuna, the ASUU chairman, who
acknowledged that the university has paid N136
million to staff for the 2016 Responsibility
Allowance, said while the union welcomes the
development, its congress is still insisting the
issues agreed on with management are yet to be
resolved.