Academic staff of ABSU disagree with Otti over salary payment claims

  By Ijendu Iheaka 

Umuahia, June 23, 2024.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Abia University chapter has disagreed with Gov. Alex Otti over his comment that the university staff are not owed salaries.

The disagreement which was contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday and signed by Dr Chidi Mbah and Dr Victor Obisike, the Chairman and secretary respectively.

The governor had on Friday night told the media at his monthly media briefing that he has cleared all outstanding salaries of Abia University staff.

However, the Union said that the state government was playing politics with its members welfare and their families.

"Following the recent Abia government statement that all ABSU staff have received April and May salaries, we, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, ABSU Chapter, wish to clarify and state the actual situation regarding salary payments at the University.

"Contrary to the government's announcement and news circulating on social media, the reality is starkly different. 

"Only a handful of staff with salary accounts at commercial banks have received their April salary, and even fewer have received their May salary.

 "Alarmingly, there are instances where some staff who received their May salary did not receive their April salary, despite using the same bank", it said.

The Union said many of their staff who received either their April or May salary had unexplained deductions ranging from N8,000 to N53,000 from their salary at source.

It also stated that a higher number of staff members whose salary accounts are with the ABSU Microfinance Bank have yet to receive their April and May salaries.

The union said the issue of ABSU MFB payment challenge also affected the teaching staff of Abia State University Teaching Hospital in Aba.

"This situation has caused significant financial strain, panic, and uncertainty among the staff.

"Due to this staggered payment system, the unions in the University cannot ascertain the status of members' check-off dues, which are typically deducted at the source of payment.

"Furthermore, it is worthy to note that our eleven months of outstanding salary arrears remained unpaid and despite repeated assurances, not a single month of these arrears has been settled", the Union said.

It therefore urged Abia government to refrain from politicizing the issue of salary payments at ABSU, as people's health, family needs, and critical issues such as workers' productivity are at stake.

The union said government should acknowledge the financial hardships university staff faced and take immediate action to ensure all outstanding salaries and arrears were paid promptly and in full.

"We seek transparency and accountability from the government in handling this matter and hope for a swift resolution to alleviate the financial distress faced by the staff of ABSU", it said.

It said the Governor and Visitor to the University, Alex Otti, meant well for the state university and left instructions to pay government workers on or before 28 of every month.

The union further urged him to quickly attend to their need by making the concerned officials to act accordingly and not to truncate his good intentions for the state's workforce.