The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, yesterday, attributed the deaths of scores of its members to the non-payment of salaries for 26 months to many academic staff of the Edo State owned university since January 2022 by the state government.
The union said the sordid reality of pains, hardship and poverty facing the staff of the university have led to the death of many workers of the institution, including Professors, due to lack of money to cater for themselves.
Briefing newsmen in Benin City on the systemic decimation of AAU, the Chairperson ASUU, AAU Ekpoma, Cyril Oziegbe Onogbosele, said that many academic staff members of the university have been denied payment of salaries for 26 months.
Onogbosele said that AAU is currently bleeding and at its lowest, as well as darkest period in its historical trajectory as a result of continued systemic decimation of the university by the actions and inactions of Edo State government in concert with its Special Intervention Team (SIT) in the university.
The AAU ASUU chairperson added that to sustain the vices against the university and its workers, the state government, in concert with its SIT in the university, has unleashed different forms of blackmail, propaganda and misinformation.
He said that contrary to the so-called ‘repositioning agenda’ in the university, which the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration kick-started since 2021, the university is in comatose, with consequences of workers facing hardship and leaving in droves.
while the number of prospective students to the university/enrolment through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had dropped from more than 14,000 in previous years to barely 3,000 in 2024.
Onogbosele added that the SIT resorted to the use of hunger as a weapon against union leaders and many other staff of the university through deliberate denial of salaries and promotion, pay-cut, witch-hunt, and intimidation.
