By Danjuma Attah, Gombe
The Government of Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has been advised by the opposition PDP to prioritize the funding of all the State owned tertiary institutions that may cumulatively not gulp the sum of N5 billion.
The party, through it’s Publicity Secretary, Abdulkadir Ahmad Dukku, was reacting to the inauguration of a high powered negotiation committee led by the State Deputy Governor, to find a lasting solution to the protracted strike action embarked upon by the Gombe State University (GSU) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The party in what it described as a patriotic advice to the Committee, said it remains steadfast in its commitment to advocate for the restoration of the declining status of education and health in Gombe State until the ruling APC Government decisively address these pressing issues.
The PDP particularly pointed out to the committee that “There is often a stark contrast between the exorbitant billions spent on contracts of questionable significance and the relatively modest sum of less than five billion Naira needed by all State owned tertiary institutions to function effectively.
The PDP advised the committee to address the grievances of GSU ASUU concurrently with those of other State owned tertiary institutions to ensure a comprehensive resolution because the grievances are largely similar.
It called for the granting of an uninterrupted autonomy to all the State owned tertiary institutions to operate independently, fostering an environment conducive to private investments, similar to the successful model at FCE (Tech), Gombe.
It also advised the Inuwa Yahaya led administration to refrain from politicizing funding of the education sector stressing that annual budgeted funds must be released promptly to enable institutions expand and rectify their infrastructural deficits.
“Effective administrative structures should be established at all levels (both management and governing councils) to ensure the proper governance and oversight of these institutions”, the PDP pointed out.
The State Governor had directed a negotiation between the striking workers and the committee set up by the Government but the initiative did not result in any meaningful resolutions.
Rather than prompting the Union to suspend the strike which at the moment, has reached almost a month, it has exacerbated the situation, leading to bureaucratic bottlenecks that have recently compelled both the Senior and Non-Academic Staff Unions of the University to join the strike action.
Despite the pressing issues raised by the ASUU of GSU that have led to the current strike, the party said similar and even more severe challenges affecting other Government-owned tertiary institutions in the state are visibly obvious.
“The situation at GSU serves as a clarion call to address the deteriorating conditions within the broader landscape of state owned tertiary institutions”, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP alerted.
