The strike by non-academic unions in public universities

The strike by non-academic unions in public universities has taken its toll on the institutions as they battle filth and struggle to keep services such as electricity and water supplies functional.

The PUNCH correspondents, who visited the universities on Monday, reported that although teaching was going on, the strike by non-teaching staff had thrown up various problems in the institutions.

For example, while refuse has piled up at male and female hostels of the University of Calabar, Cross River State, students of the University of Jos are battling with stoppage of water and electricity supplies.

Their colleagues at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus confided in The PUNCH that they contributed N500 per room to pay cleaners they brought from outside to clean their hostels.

Recall that the non-academic unions on February 5 began a nationwide strike over non-payment of their minimum wage arrears,  rejection of the  Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System and opposition to the Federal Government’s sharing formula for earned allowances, which gave the Academic Staff Union of Universities N30bn.