By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday organized a Town Hall meeting for stakeholders to sensitize them on the plights of its members.
The meeting which was held at the 1000 Seater capacity hall at the Yelwa campus was attended by Traditional rulers, religious leaders, security agencies, academics, ATBU management led by the VC as well as the Students.
The Chairman of ASUU, ATBU branch, Dr Ibrahim Inuwa took time to narrate the ordeal of ASUU members over the years summarising that it has been a story of neglect and deliberate victimisation by the concerned authorities.
He added that the townhall meeting became expidient in order to let the stakeholders know what ASUU members are going through in their determination to impart knowledge and education on the students.
According to him, many of them a living from hand to mouth because their entitlements have not been paid by the government a development he said has made life unbearable for them.
Speaking further, Ibrahim Inuwa said that the townhall meeting was to let the people know that ASUU has nothing to hide in the struggle neither was it organised to attract any sympathy.
He also said that ASUU members too are parents who children in almost all the Universities in the country and therefore will not want anything that will jeopardize the future of the children.
Ibrahim Inuwa stressed that at the end of townhall meetings across the zones, ASUU NEC will meet to harness all the views and opinions to enable it take a definite and last solution to the lingering crisis in the tertiary education sector.
He appealed with the stakeholders to understand the standing point of view of ASUU in the struggle stressing that the focus is a conducive environment for learning in all public Universities in the country.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke commended ASUU for organising the townhall meeting saying that it afforded them the opportunity to get firsthand information about the lingering crisis.
They submitted that the two parties must come to the table with an opened mind to resolve the issue once and for all in the best interest of the students.
