KSU Students Leadership Demand End To ‘No-Pay-No-Work’

MORE than a month into the
recent declaration by the Kogi State University Chapter of Academic
Staff union of Universities (ASUU) of a “No-Pay-No-Work” stand,
leadership of students of the institution has come out to appeal to all
stakeholders to find a common ground to address issues concerning the
situation.
According to leaderships of both
Student Union Government (SUG) and the National Association of Kogi
State Students (NAKOSS) in the institution, who spoke at a Press
Conference held in Lokoja, the students are at the receiving end of the
standoff, and appealed to government to get back to the negotiating
table with ASUU.
Comrade Shaibu Philip Omepa,
President of SUG in the university, told our correspondent that the
students have waited so far for the industrial action to be addressed
for them to continue their exams to no avail; hence, they were fed up.
According to him, it is in the best
interest of both government and ASUU in their institution to bring the
situation to an end as all parties concerned are suffering several
consequences arising from it.
He said while the students have been
pushed to the wall over the matter, their leadership believes in
consultation and dialogue as best means of addressing issues, rather
than confrontation and called on those concerned to sheath their swords
and shift grounds to allow for amicable resolution of the issue.
On his part, Comrade Abdulmalik
Hadi, President of National Association of Kogi State Students, said the
situation has resulted in several negative outcomes such as delay in
mobilization of graduates from the school for the mandatory Youth
Service and Law School, brain drain and loss of academics from the
institution to others, delay in academic calendar for the university
among others.
The students leader, who further
said that the strike has resulted in the loss of several lives of some
of the most brilliant students in the school, said the students have had
enough and are pleading for government and ASUU to come to their aid.
They said all efforts they have made
so far to see the governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello to ensure that they
bring the situation to his attention has not seen the light of day, as
his aides have frustrated their efforts in that regard.
Meanwhile, in a strongly worded
letter to the Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly, the Chief Judge of
the state the Director, State Security Service and the State
Commissioner of Police seen by our reporter, the students have called on
them to wade into the matter before it got out of hand.
The letter reads in part: “it will
be recalled that the strike started since 14th April, 2016 and it was
expected that there will be fast response which is yet to be seen after
several mediatory roles played by the university’s management and
coalition of student bodies.”
In another part, “In a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the governor and the Special Adviser on Education on 24th and 25th
of April respectively, we were assured that in two weeks time, the
situation will be addressed, but till now, it has not been addressed.”
They therefore appealed to them to wade in and end the lingering crisis in their institution.
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