Staff shut down maritime varsity over welfare, poor infrastructure

Academic and non-academic staffs of the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko, in Gbaramatu, Warri South Local Government Area, have embarked on indefinite strike to protest nonpayment of over 30 months allowances and poor staff welfare.

This decision was reached on Tuesday after a meeting of staff at the temporary campus in Kurutie with media.

In a resolution signed by Comrades Oweikeye Pathfinder Endoro and Moses Yabrade after the meeting, the staff unanimously endorsed the strike.

The workers comprising academic and non-academic staffers had commenced an indefinite strike yesterday to protest alleged non- payment of over 30 months of allowances, general poor welfare for members of staff and poor infrastructure, to which the management had paid deaf ears after repeated warnings.

Some of the grievances of the workers include alleged non-paid allowances, which include the 13th– Month, payable every October, which was stopped since 2019, 28th –day accommodation allowance in lieu, stopped since 2019, statutory incidental, hazard, peculiarity and other allowances in one package also stopped since May, 2019, all of which they claimed were approved by the Federal Government through the council and earned prior to May, 2019, as payments were allegedly ongoing before the advent of the current management.

Others include inadequate infrastructure for teaching and learning, inadequate office accommodation for staffers, total absence of a library at Okerenkoko campus, no residential accommodation for staffers etc and that as NMU staffers, their duty is to meet up on their part in terms of the service level agreement (SLA), ‘DO OUR JOB’, while the job of management is to pay for their services and that how and where they get the money, is not the business of staffers.

In a resolution jointly signed by Comrades Oweikeye Pathfinder Endoro and Moses Yabrade after the meeting, the staff unanimously endorsed the strike.

The resolution read in part: “Staff of NMU at all levels, namely, academic and non-academic agree that the patience and understanding with management regarding the needs of staffers has been long envisaged and misconstrued to imply ignorance and weakness.”

Meanwhile in a statement, the Registrar of the university, Dr. Alfred Mulade, said there was no iota of truth in the claims that the university was shut down by the staffers, insisting that such misinformation was the handiwork of mischief makers.

(Daily Sun)