Bayelsa to sack workers in N-Delta Varsity

By Samuel Oyadonghaa

Yenagoa—Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has said that the state will reduce the workforce of the state-owned Niger Delta University, Amassoma.

The governor dropped the hint while inaugurating an eight-member Governing Council for the University headed by Prof Turner Isoun, a former Minister of Science and Technology.

Dickson noted that his vision was to make the university autonomous and self sustenance to run professionally, adding that the institution over the years had employed more workers than it required leading to bloated wage bill.

He said: “This is unsustainable for the government. The new Governing Council must look into this issue. The university, apart from being autonomous in finances and administration, should be able to sustain itself with little support from the government. That approach is to fund the institution from within and that, to me, is a more sustainable way to get the best for the university.

“The university, from a report you will soon read, is in a situation where you have a lot of staff you really don’t need. Perhaps, the reason is that the university employed but the university does not pay. The university employs and the burden is passed on to the state. And that is not sustainable and acceptable to me.”