Ambrose Ali varsity clears air, says it is up-to-date on salaries

The Management of the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo, has said that it was up-to-date in the payment of salaries for all staff in the institution.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Ambrose Odiase, its Acting Registrar.

The university said that 2,260 regular staff and pensioners had received their February 2023 salary.

“Management considers it strange that with all the efforts it has made over the months in the payment of salaries, a group of politicians’ poster boys would still come out and describe the payment as “rumour”, “selective”, etc.

“The latest payment of February, 2023 salaries is a case in point.

“It is certainly beyond rumour that over 2,260 regular staff and pensioners have received their February 2023 salaries as at Thursday, including some of the academics making all the loud unintellectual noises in defense of falsehood.

“The records are there for everyone to see and management may be compelled to publish the list of those who have so far been paid,” he said.

The registrar noted that the management had been paying gross salaries since December 2021; hence, he said the claim that it owed 27-month checkoff to welfare union was untrue.

He noted, however, that only staff members who refused to be captured in the Edo government’s directed verification and biometric enrollment were not paid.

These set of staff, he said had been removed from the payroll and declared ghost workers and therefore had no claim to any salary.

“Again, all staff members of the University who were verified to have returned to work at the time the Edo State Government directed them to do so, have received their salaries to date.

“All staff (members), who failed to return to work on the directive of the government and were away on strike for eight months have not received salaries for those months they did not work.

“This is in line with the no-work-no-pay policy directed by government.

‘It is absurd that these self-serving agitators still add up these eight months as salaries due them, when they knew they did not work for them.

“And when they can see that even their counterparts in Federal Universities have been unable to convince the government at the centre to pay them for work not done.”

He stated that management remained committed to its set goal of repositioning Ambrose Alli University in line with the vision of the state government.

According to him, management will not be cowed or intimidated by the fusillade of sponsored attacks on it.