ASUU strike: Rivers State University constitutes monitoring committee

Dr Suobere Pauyate, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Rivers State University chapter, said the union had set up committee to monitor compliance of its members with ongoing nationwide strike.
Puyate told the News Agency of Nigeria in Port Harcourt on Friday that the committee comprised representatives of all the departments in the university.
He said that the committee was mandated to ensure that the strike was “total”.
He warned that any lecturer involved in any form of academic activities during the strike would be sanctioned by the union.
Puyate said: “We joined the ASUU national strike because of the standing issues which the strike can settle; the strike is total and indefinite.”
The chairman said that some of the grievances of the university chapter of the union included inadequate lecturers in the institution.
He said that lecturers in the school were being over-worked, and that each of them taught four courses to five courses “and still supervised over 70 undergraduates’ projects’’.
According to him, excessive workload will impact negatively on the lecturers’ efficiency, while the “products” (graduates) will be “half-baked”.
The chairman also stated that the university’s staff school had been closed down and the teachers “sacked” by the Rivers Government.
He said that the staff schools were demonstration schools where teaching practice was conducted for undergraduates in Education Faculty.
Pauyate added that among other grievances of the union, its five months check-off dues from members were yet to be remitted to it by the university management.