Some lecturers at the Abia State University, Uturu whose salaries were stopped since June 2024, have appealed to Governor Alex Otti to consider their appeals for salary payment.
The lecturers include Adu Chukwuemeka Thompson, Dr Nwosu Nkemakolam Bright of Industrial Chemistry Department and Okpechi Chinemerem from English Department.
They said they were employed in 2023 but lamented that their salaries stopped coming from June 2024 till date.
The ABSU lecturers who spoke to Journalists on Saturday about the situation, said some 200 other colleagues were affected by the salary stoppage.
They explained that despite the stoppage of their salaries, they are still teaching in various departments of the University and attending to their students’ academic needs even without payment.
The lecturers said they have taken their appeals to the Bursar of Abia State University who referred them to the office of the Accountant General of Abia State but regretted the moves have not yielded the desired results for them.
They further said that they reported the matter to the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU in the University, Chidi Mba who said that he has been engaging with concerned authorities on the matter.
” We were employed in 2023 but in June 2024 our salaries stopped even though we successfully participated in verification exercises and we were not given disengagement letters.”
“We have taken our matter to the Bursar, the office of the Accountant General of Abia State, and the taken our appeal to the Chairman of ASUU but our salaries have not yet been restored even though we are still teaching in our departments”, said Thompson.
Also speaking, Dr Nwosu Nkemakolam Bright of Industrial Chemistry Department appealed to Governor Alex Otti to remember them like his own children in this time of economic hardship, just as he is doing in Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Aba.
When contacted on the matter, the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU in Abia, Chidi Mba described the affected lecturers as “2023 employment set”
The ASUU Chairman Mba appealed to the Abia State government to look into the matter.
