Nigeria Content Online

The Anambra State
government has assured that the strike action embarked upon by the
state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which
led to the closure of the state university’s campuses at Uli and
Igbariam, will soon be resolved.

The university
staff joined their counterparts in the four south-east states in a
strike to protest the non-implementation by the south east governors of
the new salary scheme for state universities.

But addressing the
press yesterday in Awka, the senior special assistant to the governor
on communication, John Ubabukoh, said that the governor, Peter Obi, was
worried over the continued closure of the Anambra State University and
was working hard to resolve the crisis. Mr Ubabukoh said several
meetings had been held towards this and there were indications that the
problem would soon be resolved.

The head of service
in the state, Ngozi Melifonwu, has also assured that the government is
working round the clock to resolve the problem. She said the government
indicated its seriousness in solving the problem by setting up a panel,
which she headed, to look into the matter. “We just rose from the
follow-up to our inaugural meeting,” she said. “I must tell you that
all the parties that attended the meeting share the same concern and
want the crisis to be settled so that our children will go back to
school.”

Lasting solution

Mrs Melifionwu said
the panel had listened to the problems in the school from relevant
stakeholders, including the government’s delegation. She said that the
panel will now go into other details necessary for a lasting solution.

“It was good to
observe that the meeting took place without antagonism. If we continue
in the same spirit, the crisis will surely be over soon,” she said.
Other members of the panel are the Pro-Chancellor of the University,
Elochukwu Amucheazi; Israel Okoye; A.F Uzoka; Chukwuemeka Ike, a
traditional ruler; the acting Vice Chancellor of the Anambra State
University, C.C. Anene and representatives of the Ministry of
Education, among others.

The south-east
governors had insisted that the resources available to states were not
equal and thus every state could not be expected to implement the new
salary scheme. But the chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum,
Peter Obi, recently said each state in the south-east zone was free to
handle the matter as it deemed fit.

The ASUU within the region also directed its affiliates in the states to parley with their governments over the matter.