Governor Simon Lalong slams ASUU over Plateau varsity strike

Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has described the reasons given by the Academic Staff Union of Universities to embark on strike in the state-owned university as ridiculous and out of place

Lecturers in the Plateau State University, Bokkos had on January 16 embarked on an indefinite strike.

Chairman of ASUU in the institution, Dr Bentse Pamson, while declaring the strike, had accused the government of abandoning the university without any capital project except the ones being undertaken through TETFUND. He also accused the government of refusing to reconstitute the governing council after the tenure of the last officials expired, leaving the university without direction, among others, and vowed that his members would not return to the classrooms until their demands were met.

But Lalong who spoke in Jos on Friday described ASUU’s reasons for the strike as trivial and an attempt to ridicule his administration.

The Governor who recalled that Plateau State University was shut down when he came into office in 2015 insisted that he had done a lot to reposition the institution because of his passion for education and wondered why the ASUU would turn round to accuse him of abandoning the university and use it as a reason for their strike.