Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas has directed that unpaid three-month salary for Taraba State University, TSU lecturers be paid immediately.
The governor issued the order on Monday, immediately after meeting with university administration and employee union representatives in the Executive Chamber of the Government House in Jalingo, the state capital.
It should be noted that the institution’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, expressed sadness last week over the state government’s refusal to pay members’ salaries.
Addressing lecturers and student union representatives, the governor criticised the TSU ASUU chapter’s threat of a strike, stressing that the overdue salaries were inherited by his administration.
He observed that settling the outstanding payment is a moral commitment to the instructors as well as a question of financial responsibility.
The governor, who went on to recognize the academic staff’s contributions to creating the future of the state through education, said that he appreciated the gravity of the issues confronting the institution.
Rather than viewing strikes as the most certain way of resolving issues, he advised the lecturers union leadership to constantly embrace discussion as a means of resolving challenges affecting the university.
Professor Sunday Bako, Vice-Chancellor of the University, praised the governor for agreeing to offset the lecturers’ three-month salary.
In the same vein, Dr Mbave Garba, Chairman of ASUU, TSU Chapter, praised the governor’s decision.
Platinum Times has compiled a list of the outstanding three-month salaries for July, August, and September 2023.