*Call for an expanded resolution committee

By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA— ANAMBRA State Elders’ Council, consisting of traditional rulers, church leaders, labour unions and civil society organizations, has waded into the lingering strike embarked upon by lecturers of the state–owned university, calling for the setting up of an expanded resolution committee to find ways of improving the conditions of service in the state’s tertiary institutions.

Chairman of the council, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, and Secretary, Professor Ben Obunselu, said in a statement issued after the council’s meeting in Awka that it was in sympathy with the position of the lecturers, who are complaining of the inadequacy of their salaries on one hand and the state government, which insisted that raising the salaries of workers in the state to the level of their federal counterparts would make the state insolvent and incapable of meeting the monthly payment of salaries, on the other.

The council’s statement was followed by the stand of Governor Peter Obi that there was no way the state government could be forced to pay what it could not afford, arguing that emolument was dependent on income and expenditure.

The elders’ council described as unacceptable a situation where students of Anambra State University, ANSU, have continued to roam the streets since July this year, insisting that everything possible must be done to ensure that classes resumed immediately.

As a solution to the problem, the elders suggested that the funding of higher education in the state required careful re-examination that would entail restructuring and a thorough review of the sources of internally generated revenue.

Calling on ASUU members to call off the strike immediately in the interest of education in the state, the council vowed to ensure that the issues at stake were resolved with compassion and realism within three months from October 13.