IT is no longer news that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) South-East Zone, have been locked in a battle with the South-East Governors of Nigeria.

They closed State-owned universities of that geo-political zone of our country in August this year.

Their grouse: demand that their salaries and allowances be made to be at par with those of their counterparts who teach in Federal Government-owned universities.

They have cited an agreement purportedly reached by the Federal Government and the national body of their union when the latter went on strike in 2009.

But it will be recalled that the Government in the wake of the resolution of the crisis which attended the said strike, had warned lecturers in state-owned and private universities against using their agreement as a benchmark, advising them to go negotiate with the various state-governments and proprietors of private universities who employed them.

Since the advent of the strike action of South-East ASUU members and the attendant closure by them of the universities in this zone, the various state governments of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi have made several attempts to appease the lecturers without luck.

Under the aegis of the South-East Governors Forum, Governors Theodore Orji, Peter Obi (Chairman of the forum), Sullivan Chime, Ikedi Ohakim and Martin Elechi had met several times and issued communiqués, explaining to the lecturers that they are handicapped by inadequate funds.

They also resolved to handle the matter at their various individual State levels – a decision which, in fairness to the lecturers, they did not oppose.

In the case of Anambra State, for instance, Governor Peter Obi in a good month, receives about N2 billion from the Federal Allocation.  Out of this sum, about one billion, seven hundred million Naira goes into overheads (payment of salaries and other inevitable expenses).  It is from the N3 million left that he fixes roads, provides for healthcare, etc.

Because resources are quite paltry here (Anambra is not yet an oil-producing state; oil-producing states receive much higher sums as monthly Federal Allocation), he has drastically, since 2006 (when he assumed office) cut short the cost of governance.  Little wonder that he earns much less than his fellow governors, pays much less to his political appointees and civil servants, travels light and hurries to return to Awka each time he travels out so his out-of-station allowances do not soar, etc.

Yet he has demonstrated in action and words that he is committed to improving education and the lot of stakeholders in that sector.  In concrete  terms, he has built more structures in both Uli and Igbariam campuses of the Anambra State University (ANSU), a university the interest of which past governors of Anambra State had neglected even as they struggled to take her campuses to their bedrooms in their towns of origin.

In Igbariam campus of ANSU, Governor Obi, among other things, built the Law Faculty from the scratch – a faculty which has been adjudged as the best in the whole of the South-East zone.

He has also added a library to the faculty.  In addition, he has built and equipped the Department of Mass Communication and innumerable other structures.

The Uli Campus has also received its fair share of transformation.  Numerous structures have sprung up there. They include the Anatomy and Biochemistry buildings and three  houses at the Faculty of Engineering , among others.
What is more, Governor Obi has increased the university’s subvention.

Mr.  Mike UDAH, is CPS  to  Governor Obi of Anambra State.