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Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has announced that his administration has resolved to look into issues confronting Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU), to tackle its challenges.
He spoke when he met the delegation of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ABSU chapter, led by the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU National, Calabar Zone, Dr. Happiness Uduak.
The governor, noting that a lot needs to be done to fix the institution, said the demands of the union are not unreasonable, adding that the government would do anything within its capacity to assist the university.
He expressed surprise about the 18-month salary differential the union said its members in Abia were being owed from 2009-2010, as well as the 11- month salary owed them by the previous administration.
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Otti was of the view that universities, especially when they were not new, should be run independent of government subvention and advised members of the union to rather evolve ways to make the university financially independent.
He said: “It is important that we put on our thinking cap and remove our begging cap because this whole idea of begging is the problem we have in Nigeria.
“Even as a country, we keep begging, we keep borrowing and we need to think of being financially independent.
“Even from research alone, if there is anything happening in the university, we should be able to generate enough resources to do a few things.
“We need to begin to think of how to make our universities financially independent. Let us rechannel our ABSU, ASUU to begin to think of how they can contribute to making the university independent and I will support you.
“We need to think in that direction because it is more sustainable.”
The governor, who said he would meet with the university management to iron out issues, added that there would be restructuring of the institution.
He promised to set up a visitation panel in the institution as well as look into the union’s requests for increased subvention.
The leader of the delegation, Dr. Happiness Uduak, thanked the governor for doing a lot for ABSU so far since assumption of office.
He lauded Governor Otti for the prompt release of their monthly subventions; a gesture, she said, set the tone for an industrial harmony between the government and the union.
The ASUU ABSU branch chairperson, Dr. Chidi Mbah, noted that things were not moving as they should in the university, and called on the governor to visit the institution to see things for himself.
