Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday organised a Town Hall meeting for stakeholders to sensitise 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, narrated the ordeal of the union members over the years, saying it has been a story of neglect and deliberate victimisation by the concerned authorities.
He added that the town hall meeting became expedient in order to let the stakeholders know what ASUU members are going through in their determination to impart knowledge and education to the students.
According to him, many of them are living from hand to mouth because their entitlements have not been paid by the government. He said the development has made life unbearable for them.
Speaking further, Ibrahim Inuwa said that the town hall 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 are parents who have children in almost all the universities in the country and therefore will not want anything that will jeopardize the future of the children.
The ASUU Chairman stressed that at the end of town hall meetings across the zones, ASUU NEC will meet to harness all the views and opinions to enable it to take a definite and last solution to the lingering crisis in the tertiary education sector.
He appealed to 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 town hall meeting, saying that it allowed them to get firsthand information about the lingering crisis.
They submitted that the two parties must come to the table with an open mind to resolve the issue once and for all in the best interest of the students.
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