Gombe tertiary institutions workers groan under non-payment of salaries

Staff of four Gombe State-owned tertiary institutions have not been paid salaries for the past two months, Daily Trust has gathered. An investigation by our reporter revealed that staff of Gombe State Polytechnic, Bajoga, College of Education, Billiri, College for Legal and Islamic Studies, Nafada and College of Health Technology, Kaltungo have not received their […]

Staff of four Gombe State-owned tertiary institutions have not been paid salaries for the past two months, Daily Trust has gathered.

An investigation by our reporter revealed that staff of Gombe State Polytechnic, Bajoga, College of Education, Billiri, College for Legal and Islamic Studies, Nafada and College of Health Technology, Kaltungo have not received their salary for the months of September and October.

Some of the staff, who don’t want to be named, said lack of payment of their two months’ salaries has put them in a very difficult situation, as they are unable to provide food for their families, pay their children’s school fees or attend to other basic needs.

Daily Trust gathered that COE, Billiri, in October collected an IOU from the college’s resources to pay September salary, but couldn’t do same for the month of October, due to lack of funds.

Also, it was found that both academic and non-academic staff of the newly established Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Kumo, have remained without salary months after their engagement.

Four of the five institutions were established during the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.

However, the non-payment of salaries has not affected staff of the Gombe State University and College of Nursing and Midwifery, Gombe, which were established during the tenure of Governor Danjuma Goje.

Governor  Inuwa Yahaya had on July 22 constituted an 11-member committee to review all the tertiary education institutions established by the Dankwambo administration.

The committee, chaired by Professor Buba Bajoga, is to among other things, assess the potentials and relevance or otherwise of the institutions to the educational development of the state.

Responding on the non-payment of the two months salaries, the Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Meshack Lauco, said the ministry’s permanent secretary had briefed him on the issue.

He said: “You cannot talk of quality education when staff are grumbling. Now that the commissioners are in place, it is our responsibility to inform the governor and we have no doubt it will be resolved.”

“We are already making concerted efforts to make sure they are paid their salaries. 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.”