The Bauchi State government yesterday, pleaded with the striking academic and non-academic staff unions in five tertiary institutions in the state to call off their ongoing strike to allow the government reach common ground with them.
The state’s Head of Civil Service (HoS), Yahuza Adamu Haruna, at a press briefing held at Bauchi State government house, expressed concern for the inability of the striking staff to allow the state government address their issues rather than embarking on industrial action.
According to him, calling off the strike would enable the state government to continue with the negotiations with the leadership of the Joint Acton Committee (JAC) to resolve the unions’ demands.
His words: “We are surprised by the strike embarked upon by the JAC members despite knowing the efforts of the State Government to resolve their demands, we have engaged the leadership of JAC on resolutions of their demands and Government is taking measures to ensure it resolves demands of not only tertiary institutions staff, other civil servants in the civil service.
“We are concerned that we have not been notified as government by the striking staff before they embarked on the strike, but the administration of His Excellency, Governor Bala Mohammed, is pro-masses, worker-friendly and is on top of addressing salaries and other related issues raised.”
The Hos said his office has hosted all accounting officers of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for crucial in a bid bring to an end, the lingering salary problem in the state.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Education, Dr Aliyu Tilde appealed to all stakeholders in the education sector including members of the Joint Acton Committee to bear with the state government in the ongoing education reforms.
The five tertiary institutions that are currently on strike are, Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi, Adamu Tafawa Balewa College of Education Kangere, Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare, and AD Rufai College of Legal Studies.
