The lawmaker representing Wukari/Ibi Federal Constituency, Danjuma Usman Shiddi, has frowned at the alleged ill attitudes of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku towards addressing the plights of the state varsity workers.
The lawmaker who on Thursday joined the league of prominent Tarabans to condemn the continued refusal of the governor to pay the lecturers their ten months’ remunerations and other entitlements, urged him to as a matter of urgency commenced the process of heralding smiles on the faces of the aggrieved lecturers.
Making his position known via a press statement he made available to media practitioners in Jalingo, he also expressed sadness that apart from the lecturers, Civil servants and pensioners are as well walloping in pain due to the governor’s alleged lukewarm attitudes towards addressing their plights.
Citing recent protests embarked on by the students of the university which were necessitated by the governor’s failure to pay the lecturers salaries and allowances, the need for the governor to insert the right peg in the right holes, he believed has become necessary.”
He vowed to tread extra legitimate miles to ensure “their entitlements are given to them and rights are well protected”.
He said the governor need to be guided by the spirit of the oath of office he took and the rule of law by paying all the outstanding salaries of staffers of the university and every other civil servant owed their salaries for several months across the State.
“I hope the Governor will heed all shades of valuable advice on this matter, pay the university staff, all civil servants, and pensioners across the State their salaries and entitlements to enable the staff and students return to their beats, take their exams and continue teaching and learning in the best interest of the State and social stability.”
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He appealed to provoked staff and students of the Taraba State University to eschew violence and remain civil in pressing home their demands and be assured that as a stakeholder in the State and the National Assembly, he will remain committed to ensuring their entitlements are given to them and rights are well protected.
“Last Monday, we witnessed another shameful but evitable incident which started from the state-owned university and spread across major routes in the Jalingo metropolis.
“This is avoidable if leadership at the state level had listened to the staff and students, and done the needful. I watched with deep concern clips, video footages and pictures of the protest by students of the Taraba State University, on non-payment of salaries of academic and non-academic staff of the institution which stalled their examination initially billed to commence on Monday, January 9, 2023.”
Shiddi, who is also the Southern Taraba Senatorial District flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), for the forthcoming election, also beckoned at the security agencies to always strive hard to protect protesters, especially those whose protests are not characterised by violence.
“The security agencies must also act swiftly in guaranteeing the safety of protesters now and in the future”.
Business activities and vehicular were brought to a halt earlier this week, as major highways in Jalingo metropolis were blocked by the TSU students who were not comfortable with the way the state government had been treating the remuneration issues of their lecturers with kid gloves.
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