Teaching and non-teaching staff of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, have threatened showdown with the state government over the delay in the payment of their two months salaries and promotion arrears for the past two years.
Chairman of ASUU in the university, Prof. Abel Diakparome, said the government’s refusal to pay staff salaries of May and June and the non-payment of the 2014 and 2015 promotion arrears was threatening the flow of academic activities in the university which has three campuses.
He said: “It should also be noted that there are no sufficient accommodations for the staff on campus, thus many of them travel long distances to work daily.
“Being a multi-campus institution, DELSU lecturers shuttle between Abraka, Asaba and Oleh campuses and the University Teaching Hospital at Oghara to attend to their day-to-day activities. All these activities require money which sadly is not available to them.”
“Many staff in the institution are already being lured to several universities outside the country, especially Southern African countries of South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland amongst others.”
He added that: “We wish to categorically state that in the event of members inability to participate in the examination or to discharge other responsibilities, the unions will protect their members against any attempt by either the university administration or government to prefer charges against them for dereliction of duty because nobody can work on an empty stomach and the Bible enjoins the employer to pay employees because the laborer deserves his wages.”