From Olanrewaju Lawal Birnin Kebbi
The Management of the Kebbi State University of Science and Technology,Aliero(KSUSTA) has distance itself from the Academy Staff University Union(ASUU),Aliero chapter that the institution is facing ‘imminent collapse ‘.
Acting Registral of the university and Secretary to the Institution Council, Maimura Alhaji Tilli made the position of the management known in a statement made available to newmen through the Public Relations Officer(PRO) of the University,Mallam Hussaini Adamu Zuru.
The university, which are reacting to the university’s ASUU interview publication by a national daily newspaper tittled “ASUU raises alarm as Kebbi varsity faces imminent collapse”, insisted that there was no iota of truth in the ASUU claims.
According to the Registrar,”the university wishes to bring to the attention of the public that the relentless efforts of the curent administration under the leadership of Professor B.L Aliero has made tremendous efforts in promotion staff welfare,academic excellence and provision of infrastructural facilities within the last 5 years.
“This is proven by the NUC’s rating in which the University was listed among the 25 universities in Nigeria thar that had their programmes fully accredited,as published in the national newspaper of 20th December,2021. In addition to this, the university had one of the best E-Library in the country that has ultra- modern facilities,as attested by various accreditation teams that visited the University.
“Recently, a visitation team headed by the National President of the Association of Academic Technologists(NAAT) , attested to the fact that the university is one of the richest in structures and modern laboratory equipment. In the area of standards,our students participated in various academic competitions at both local and international levels and won various prizes”.
The University employers of labour have being rating their graduates always above standard stressed that KSUSTA is one of the universities that did not mißs 2019/2020 academic session due to the COVID 19 lockdown.
“Most unfortunately,the same university is mischievously labelled as the one facing ‘imminent collapse by someone. Obviously there is clear contradiction between the factual information and that which is contained in the press release. However,the information cannot be directly attributable to ASUU for being well informed about the current position of things in the university.
“All we known is that ASUU members have pending claimes which is a general issue in all Nigerian Public Universities. The case of this University is even better because the State Government sympathetically and magnanimously did not apply the policy of ‘ no work, no pay” during the 8 months Universities national strike due to its concern for education”.
Tilli, also disclosed that Kebbi State Government had settled the Earned Academic Allowance(EAA) of about N451,000,000.00 in 2019 stressed that the management too paid the sum of N73,000,000.00 over the years followed by prompt payments of salaries.
He noted that,the only pending claims as far as the management is concern includes; implementation of annual increment of 2020 to date,, implementatiob of promotions for 2020 and 2021 and payment of accrued EAA from 2014 to2021.
Tilli said that the University Governing Council are making concerted efforts to to ensure that the claims were settled.
“The management wishes to call on the general public to disregard the publication by ASUU, described it as the handiwork of a few desperate elements which has no basic. On the other hand, he rest assured that the management remains focused and determined more than ever before to provide dynamic and purposeful leadership towards achieving the university’s vision and mission”.