By; SAMSON YAKI, Lafia
Academic activities at the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK), will soon resume after the state government agreed to shoulder the responsibility for the payment of salaries of the staff of the university.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, made this known while briefing members of the state executive council, at the fifth state executive council meeting, which held at the Government House on Wednesday.
Engineer Sule, while briefing the council on recent developments across the educational, health and security sectors of the state, announced the decision of his administration to agree to takeover the payment of salaries at the state University, thereby meeting one of the key demands by the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), thus paving the way for the possible resumption of academic activities.
According to the Governor, based on the available finances to the state and especially because of the importance attached to education, his administration has agreed to take over the responsibility of paying salaries of staff at the NSUK, beginning from this month.
He pointed out that, so far, the management of the university, as well as the non teaching unions namely the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) have all agreed to open the university.
“One of the conditions they gave to us, the most important condition, is to ensure that we take over the full payment of salaries of all the staff, so that they don’t have to use their IGR.
“As far as we are concerned, we looked at our finances and we strongly believe that, based on the cashflow we have available to us and also because of the importance we attach to education, that we should be able to start that from this month.
“That is what we are looking forward to do. We are also hoping they will compliment by the moment we start the payment hopefully by Thursday or Friday, then we are hoping to see them also returning to their classes,” he stated.
Also updating the council about his recent activities concerning education, Engineer Sule disclosed that, following his recent visit to the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, the agency of the ministry, the National Communication Commission (NCC), through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has donated ICT gadgets to the College of Education in Akwanga.
“They have supplied all the ICT gadgets from the NCC similar to what they did for us at the Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic Lafia. The advantage COE Akwanga is having is that two servers will be installed, as part of their contribution to education in the state” he said.
The Governor therefore, used the opportunity of the meeting, to show great appreciation to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Ali Isa Pantami for the support, as well as the NCC and NITDA for their support in this area.
