The Academic Staff Union of Universities which has been agitating for improved funding of the education sector and better welfare for their members may have decided finally to embark on a national strike following the end of the union’s 14-day ultimatum which expires on Sunday

This was as members of the union at the University of Jos on Tuesday protested against the situation calling on the Federal Government to act quickly to avert the impending industrial action

Tuesday’s protest which started around 11 am disrupted the ongoing Second Semester examinations at UNIJOS as union members marched through the university community singing solidarity songs.

They also carried placards with different inscriptions some of which read: ‘Let ASUU members breathe,’ ‘Pay our promotion arrears,’ ‘Adequate funding of universities, Is that hard?’ ‘End ASUU strike now,’ “Sign Nimi Briggs MOA,’ ‘IPPIS is a fraud, migrate us now,’ and ‘Tinubu, release our revitalization fund,’, among others.”

They were joined in the protest by the university students in solidarity.

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The protesters later converged at the Senate building of the university where they were received by the top management of the institution including the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tanko Ishaya; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) and the Registrar, Dr Rejoice Songden.

The university’s ASUU Vice Chairman, Prof. Kiri Jaryum who led the protest told the VC that his members had endured enough suffering and maltreatment at the hands of the Federal Government.

He said the union could no longer bear the situation if the government failed to address their demands at the end of the 14-day ultimatum earlier given to the government by the National Executive Committee of ASUU.

Jaryum who handed over a 9-point demand to the VC for onward delivery to the Federal Government said, “Our protest today at the University of Jos is in line with the 14-day ultimatum given by the National Executive Committee of ASUU and activities to be carried out by the various branches.

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“As we are here, other branches within the Bauchi zone of ASUU which comprises six universities are doing the same thing.

“Our branch chairperson is away to coordinate similar protests in the zone as we are doing the same at the University of Jos and he has asked me to stand in for him.

“Our demands have been with the government for a long time and it is rather unfortunate that we are repeating the same thing because the government has been playing a deaf ear to them.”

He listed the items contained in the protest letter including the need for the government to pay them their earned academic allowances budgeted for in 2023, revitalization fund, and payment of salaries of members whose names were excluded from the IPPIS platform.

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Others include the need for the government to stop the proliferation of universities, the need for the government to effect increment in their salaries which had stagnated in the past 15 years as well as the need for the government to return to the renegotiation table to sign the Nimi Briggs committee agreement among others.

The Vice Chancellor who received the 9-point protest letter thanked members of ASUU for their peaceful protest in the institution.

Tanko said as the VC, he was in support of all the demands contained in the protest letter and would add another demand to the protest letter before submitting it to the FG.

He called on the FG to increase its funding to the public universities to enable them to function and serve their objectives.

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“I can assure you that we are going to submit this protest letter by ASUU to the federal government verbatim. I can tell you that all the 9 points you have listed here have affected all members of the university community in one way or the other. I can tell you that some of us here are also being owed some number of months’ salaries.

“So, we are suffering and we understand what your demands are. In forwarding this letter, I’m also going to include item number 10 because the University of Jos can no longer provide electricity anymore with the recent increment in the electricity tariff,” the VC stated.

The PUNCH reports that ASUU had on Tuesday threatened a nationwide strike, giving the government a two-week ultimatum to reconstitute the governing councils of federal universities.

The Federal government had responded by announcing the constitution of a new governing council of the federal universities and other institutions in the country but ASUU had rejected the action of the government and insisted that its demands had not been met by the government.

The 14-day ultimatum earlier given by ASUU is expected to expire on Sunday.

Tragedy struck, in the early hours of Tuesday, at the Amarata suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital as seven persons lost their lives after inhaling fumes from power generating set (generator) placed inside a music studio.

The incident, occured along Transformer Road, Amarata in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.

According to some residents, the deceased were working in the recording studio, owned by one of them, identified as Akpos Barakubo.

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They were said to have worked late into the night on Monday using a generator due to the poor power supply situation in the state and may have slept off leaving the generator running in the studio lacking Ng proper ventilation.

It was learned that six of the victims were discovered dead Tuesday morning while one who was unconscious was rushed to the hospital but later gave up the ghost.

Some of the victims were said to be students of the Niger Delta University (NDU), who are into the recording business to help themselves in school.

Security operatives had condoned off the area as at press time with the corpses evacuated and deposited at the morgue.

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A resident, simply identified as Damion blamed the tragic incident on the poor power supply situation in the state.

He said: “If there was public power supply maybe these people wouldn’t have lost their lives in this circumstances.

“Seven able-bodied young men just died like that because of the failure of government. The most annoying thing is that tomorrow, the PHED personnel will come with ladder to disconnect light that they are not supplying. How can people be spending their money in fueling generators despite the current hardship in Nigeria, even after paying for light bills?”

Attempt to get the reaction of the Spokesman of the state police command, ASP Musa Muhammed, proved abortive as his mobile phone line was not going through.

A popular pastor, Stanley Ogbonna, has allegedly driven his estranged wife, Chioma, and six children out of their house in Abuja.

Ogbonna, a General Overseer of the God’s Spring Assembly, also known as Glass Church, Kubwa, Abuja, was said to be in an unsettling relationship with his wife, which led to their divorce.

He was accused of telling the court he had sold his properties to prevent the embattled wife from having a share of his wealth.

In a clip that went viral on social media platforms on Tuesday, Chioma was seen accusing the pastor of infidelity and domestic abuse, among others.

Property of entranged wife being thrown out.

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She narrated how she had suffered with the pastor for over 18 to 19 years with six children and how the husband had packed his properties out of the house while sleeping around with different women.

Properties thrown out
She said, “See him, God will help me. This is a pastor. Look at him. This is the pastor, Stanley Ogbonna. He called the police and evicted me and the children out of the house.

“Look at me, look at my properties all outside unannounced. We were in the house this afternoon; he just came to the house with the police and threw my things away. He already packed his things out of the house for years, sleeping around.

Pastor Stanley Ogbonna

“Today, he has come to disgrace me after labouring with him for 18 years, 19 years. See what the General Overseer of God’s Wing Assembly, Glass Church, Kubwa, is doing. I’m his wife, who laboured with him for 19 years.

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“The world needs to come into this and give me justice for suffering me for all these years after giving him six children. His last child is a four-year-old.

“Look at me outside and my properties. He feels nobody will speak for me. Jehovah will speak for me,” Chioma added.

Efforts to reach the pastor and the church to discuss the wife’s allegation proved abortive. The church’s inquiry number was unreachable, and the mail sent has not been replied to as of the time of filing this report.

On April 18, the church held a programme titled “Happy Birthday in perfect grace” to celebrate Ogbonna’s birthday.