All Unions in Nasarawa state tertiary institutions, Wednesday, embarked on an indefinite strike following exemption of their members in the on going implementation of promotions and annual incremental of workers’ salaries in the state.
The Chairman, Joint Union of Nasarawa State Tertiary Institutions (JUNSTI), Dr. Ada Benjamin, stated this at a news briefing after an emergency meeting of officials of the union in Lafia, the state capital.
He said the issue of non-promotion and annual increments of workers salaries in the state involved all categories and wondered why workers in the state-owned tertiary institutions should be exempted from the implementation.
The chairman said the action had further demoralised the morale of workers in the tertiary institutions considering the hardship they had faced due to non promotion and annual increment of their salaries.
“You will also recall that in March 2019, we suspended our strike action for this same reason to give government ample time to respond to our demands which the government committee on the same issue promptly responded.
“Unfortunately, JUNSTI is aware that all tertiary institutions in the state have been maliciously exempted from the magnanimity of His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi Sule on the Memorandum submitted by the state Head of Service (HoS) for the implementation of the said promotions,for inexplicable reasons.
“We hereby wonder why the Head of Service will intentionally create such unacceptable demarcation in a matter that concerns all,” he said.
The union therefore, called for the immediate removal of the state HoS, Mr. Nicholas Aboki, for alleged exemption of names of workers in the state owned tertiary institutions from the implementation of workers in the state.
Responding, Mr. Abari, said the union did not following due process in their decision to embark on the strike.
“They have written his excellency, and copied me. So if they have written his excellency, I cannot make any comment,” Abari said.
