BEVERLY HILLS, July 19, (THEWILL) –Â Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has proscribed activities of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Kogi State University (KSU), Ayangba.
Bello announced the proscription on Wednesday in Lokoja shortly after the weekly State Executive Council Meeting saying that the decision was with immediate effect thus banning all ASUU activities in the university.
He told journalists that the state government was forced to take the decision following the refusal of the lecturers to call off six months old strike revealing that ASUU rebuffed all efforts by the government to persuade it to end the strike, including meeting over 90 per cent of the union’s demands.
The governor ordered the striking lecturers to go back to work immediately or lose their jobs declaring that any lecturer who fails to resume teaching will be assumed to have resigned his or her appointment.
He stated that the institution will declare the positions of such lecturers vacant and new lecturers will be employed to fill the vacancies as he directed the management of the university to monitor the lecturers’ compliance to the directive.
The governor who is the Visitor to the university also directed the authorities to beef up security in and around the premises of the institution saying lecturers willing to work should not suffer any form of harassment or intimidation.
He reiterated the commitment of the government to the development of education in the state, saying that the government could no longer tolerate the strike claiming that the strike had led to increase in crime rate in Ayangba and its environs.
