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The Academic Staff Union of Universities chapter of the Bayelsa State-owned Niger Delta University has threatened to resume the strike it suspended in 2016.

The chairman of ASUU-NDU, Tonbara Kingdom, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the end of the union’s congress meeting on the university’s campus on Wednesday.

Tonbara, who in company with the chapter’s secretary, Ebi Baraka, and other officers, said the union had already taken the resolution at its congress meeting to initiate processes that would lead to the resumption of the industrial protest.

He said, “We are tired and frustrated by the uncooperative attitude of the Bayelsa State Government towards the funding and welfare of members of staff of Niger Delta University.”

Tonbara stated that the report of a committee set up by Governor Douye Diri in January 2021 “to solve some of the funding and welfare issues in tertiary institutions in the state” had not been submitted to the governor over 10 months after it concluded the task.

He added, “Promotion was not implemented in NDU between October 2015 and September 2019, neither was annual step increment implemented since October 2015 till date. We have unpaid salaries of some staff between October 2013 and December 2015. We also have unpaid study fellowships. The working condition of staff is terrible. There are no residential quarters in the university more than 20 years after it was established. Who did we offend?”