By Mark Lenu
An associate professor at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr Steve Wordu has given reasons he does not like strikes saying that strike only favors the rich and hurt the poor.
Dr Wordu who disclosed this in view of the ongoing strike embarked upon by the nonacademic staff union of universities told our correspondent that the former and current administrations of Muhammad Buhari and Bola Tinubu disappointed the nation’s universities a lot.
On Monday, federal universities across the country were shut down, in compliance with the indefinite strike called by the Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities.
On Sunday night, SSANU and NASU vowed to indefinitely shut down all university activities across the country, starting Monday, until the Federal Government paid the four months withheld salaries.
Also Read:
Rivers Council Chairman to Commence Construction of Corps Lodge in a Week Time
On Sunday, a statement signed by the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, said the Federal Government’s ultimatum over its withheld salaries expired Sunday midnight.
The unions are demanding, among other things, the payment of the four-month withheld salaries, improved remuneration and earned allowances, and the implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.
Wordu said, “I don’t like strikes because they hurt the poor and favour the rich. However, it is necessary sometimes to strike if the government refuses to do what is necessary.
“The employees who have worked deserved to be paid and when the government is breaching the agreements it entered with the university employees, it means, the former wants the latter to strike.
“Even when universities are on strike, I keep telling people that lecturers don’t strike, they only suspend classroom lecturing while still carrying out other academic activities such as research, and marking of scripts among others.”
