The Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has stopped paying the striking university instructors’ wages.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had gone on strike in February, among other things, to seek better welfare.
All attempts to get lecturers back in the classroom have failed.
At the International Conference Centre in Kasarawa over the weekend, Tambuwal spoke with young people and stated, “Last month, I suspended the payment of their wages since I had been generous enough to give them more than five months’ income without employment.
Since they had no justification for continuing the strike, I told them to get back to work or risk losing their pay.
The problems brought up by ASUU branches at federal colleges differ from those that exist in state universities. If they have any further problems, they should come forward with them; otherwise, we won’t pay them until they return to the classroom, he said.
If the professors truly had the state’s and its students’ best interests at heart, he warned them to get back to work.
Hon. Akibu Dalhatu, commissioner of information and director of the ministry of youth and sports development, praised the governor for advancing the state’s youths by launching a number of empowerment initiatives that benefited them in his remarks.
He also praised the governor for including young people in many aspects of his government.
