Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya has blaming striking staff of the Gombe State University (GSU) of not paying their ‘Pay As You Earn‘ (PAYE) taxes like other civil servants to the state government, yet they demand more funds from the government.
The governor stated this while inaugurating a high-powered committee led by the state deputy governor, Manasseh Jatau with other top government officials to resolve the series of strikes embarked upon by the entire staff of the university.
WikkiTimes reports that GSU’s academic and non-academic staff through their unions the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have embarked on strike to demands improved conditions of service and other entitlements.
They explained that the industrial actions were due to non-implementation of the old N30,000 minimum wage to their members, non-payment of accumulated earned allowances and underfunding of the university among others.
However, Governor Inuwa alleged that the staff of the university do not discharge their obligations too by paying their PAYE even as the government made it lower than what the federal government charges ASUU.
HE added that the varsity workers “still refuse to remit to the state government properly.
“We have records that even the ‘pay as you earn’ that Gombe State University was supposed to remit to the government has not been remitting fully. And in 2019 at the point of negotiation sometime, they refused to, even when we were applying the rates charged by the federal government to ASUU and the academic unions, they refused.
“And we had to come down to adjust to a lower figure of tax, but yet they don’t remit that to the government. So, I don’t know why. Government only gets from the federation account and raises money through the pay as you earn and other IGR sources in order to fund its operations. But now, they refuse to give, and they still want more.”, he complained.
While clarifying further, the governor said the government cannot deduct the taxes from the source because it pays the university its money as subvention through their management.
He also said that the state government pays the sum of N200,000,000 every month to the university adding that he had rejected the management request to increase their charges and tuition fees.
WikkiTimes reports that the committee include the deputy governor, secretary to the state government, commissioner for local governments, commissioner for finance, state attorney general and commissioner of justice, commissioner higher education, commissioner for education, state auditor general, state accountant general and chairman Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) among others.
Hafsah Muhammed Ibrahim, from Bauchi State, is a literary enthusiast and an advocate for women’s rights. As the Editor and Lead Podcaster at WikkiTimes, she draws on her background in Sociology and Education to create compelling narratives that amplify the voices of marginalized communities.
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