Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
A lawmaker representing Billiri East constituency in the Gombe State House of Assembly (GSHA), Rambi Ibrahim Ayala, has called on the state government to expedite action towards the payment of staff of the state owned College of Education (COE) Billiri as well as three other tertiary institutions in the state.
Mr Rambi made the call while commending the state governor for embarking on development projects with direct impact on life in his constituency.
“The issue of party is over until during electioneering period. What we are facing now is governance and for now the Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, is doing well and has surpassed my expectation; for that I must commend him,” the PDP member told reporters.
“I can tell you everybody in Billiri East is appreciative of what we are seeing now, but we can always ask for more. I would like to use this opportunity to tell his Excellency that the people in COE Billiri are yearning for salaries. Whatever the issues are, we need to get that place up and running. Not only that, the other higher institutions as well, they need to be paid,” he added.
The state governor had on July 22 revealed that five state tertiary institutions established by the previous administration of Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, left more questions than answers, which necessitated his setting up of an 11-member committee to review all the state of the institutions with a view to assessing their potential and relevance and sustainability.
Daily Sun learnt that the salaries of staff of the COE in Billiri, Gombe State Polytechnic, Bajoga, College for Legal and Islamic Studies, Nafada and the Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo as well as College of Health Technology, may have been stopped due to the activities of the committee chaired by Professor Buba Bajoga.
When contacted by Daily Sun to respond to the non-payment of workers salaries for four months in spite offering services to the state, the Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Meshack Lauco, could not be reached, as several calls and text messages sent to his phone came back unanswered.
The Commissioner had some time in December told reporters that the ministry was making concerted efforts to make sure that the workers received their salaries and wages.
He said that he had been briefed by the Permanent Secretary who was then overseeing the Ministry.
“Now that the commissioners are in place, it is our responsibility to inform the Governor, and we have no doubt it will be resolved,” he said.
“You cannot talk of quality education when staff are grumbling. As such, I call on all those who have not received their salaries for the past two months to bear with us. We will definitely pay their salaries,” the Commissioner assured even as the workers continue to work without pay for months after the assurance of the honorable commissioner.
“Whatever he needs to do to ensure that they are being paid, I think we would appreciate,” Rambi told reporters shortly after donating a car, seven motorcycles, sowing marching and about N2 million as an empowerment and Christmas gift to some members of his constituency in Billiri Local Government Area.