BY RUTH OGINYI
Worried by the unending suffering of workers, students of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki Southeast Nigeria, the National Association of University Students (NAUS), has called on the Ebonyi state government to increase the university's monthly subvention or allow the school to join ASUU national strike.
According to the student body, if the state government wants to disengage Ebonyi state university from the ongoing ASUU strike they are not against it, but the government should first increase the monthly subvention being paid to the school to enable them to pay up to date workers' salaries, allowances, and honorarium.
The National Association of University Students (NAUS), further accused the management of EBSU of forcing 20% of the students to remain in school which led to the death of two students recently and demanded composition from the school to their parents.
Comrade Ogwute Godwin Senate President of NAUS made this known in Abakaliki on Sunday.
He said they are giving the government a four-day ultimatum to redirect its steps or face an unpleasant reaction from the students' body.
NAUS accused the state government of using a group called divine mandate lecturers to play divide and rule policy in EBSU and warned against further action with such a faceless group of persons.
Adding that their attention was also drawn to a circular from the university management that the examination will start on 11th April and said such is unacceptable as 80% of EBSU students are out of the school because of the nationwide ASUU strike.
His words: "It has come to our notice that the management of EBSU, has refused staff and students to join the ongoing national struggle for the revitalization of public universities in Nigeria.
"We have watched with total disgust, the needles infighting between the ASUU-EBSU chapter and a certain Divine Mandate Lecturers, as a result of this fight, less than 20% of our students are on campus, receiving lectures and taking the continuous assessment, while the remaining 80% are in trenches.
"The families of two of our students that died recently, in Applied Microbiology, and Guidance and Counselling, must be adequately compensated by the management of EBSU.
Their death could have been avoided were if not for the decision of the management to keep them in classes while others are in the trenches.
"If the state government want to disengage Ebonyi State University from the ongoing ASUU strike we're not against it, but the govt should first increase the monthly subvention being paid to the school to enable them to pay updated worker's salaries, allowances, and honorarium, if not the school should be allowed to participate fully in the ongoing struggles for the revitalization of public universities because, in the end, only our student bears the consequence of the needles fight.
"We're giving the management of EBSU from now till Thursday the 31st of March 2022 to permanently end all academic activities in the school, any attempt to continue academic activities beyond this date will not be accepted by the National Association of University Students (NAUS), and there will be consequences.
"We are calling on the state government to prioritize the security of the lives and properties of our students, we will no longer tolerate the unending avoidable death of our students in Ebonyi state.
