By  Anayo Okoli
Umuahia—STRIKING lecturers of  Abia State University, Uturu, have vowed not to suspend their strike, saying the national leadership of other unions have also directed their members to join in the strike.

Meanwhile, the striking ASUU members said ABSU management was currently owed about N1billion as arrears of allowances from 1998 till date.

The leadership of ASUU-ABSU, which addressed journalists on the on-going strike embarked upon by South East state universities, accused the governors in the zone of killing education.

They accused the governors of giving flimsy excuses for not paying the new salary agreed with ASUU and the federal government.

ASUU leadership of ABSU said lecturers in the university were still being paid Harmonized University Salary Scale, HATISS.

Their spokesman, Dr. George Chima, lamented that state universities in other geo-political zones of the country have started paying the new salary and wondered why it was only the South East zone that had not implemented it.

“There is no going back. No retreat, no surrender, until victory is achieved. As far as we are concerned, they get allocations like other states.

“Northern states and other states are paying, why can’t they pay?   They are claiming that the agreement was between ASUU and federal government, but they were all represented, and university is based on universal principles and state universities are subject to NUC guidelines, like the federal universities.

“This effort by South East governors will clearly spell inferiority for state universities. Staff promotion and absorption as well as sabbatical leave of staff/contract will be eroded as no one may want to touch poorly motivated staff,” Chima said.