About 200 lecturers engaged by Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU), in 2023 have raised alarm over 12 months of unpaid salaries and are pleading with Governor Alex Otti to intervene.

Spokesperson for the affected staff, Chukwemeka Thompson, disclosed to newsmen that despite receiving official employment letters, they stopped receiving salaries in June 2023, and efforts to resolve the issue have yielded no results.

“We were referred from the university’s bursary to the Accountant General’s office, only to be told that an instruction from the state government halted our payments,” Thompson said. “We’ve continued teaching, grading and graduating students without pay, and we have not been disengaged officially.”

Two other affected lecturers, Dr. Nwosu Nkemakolam Bright and Okpechi Chinemerem, joined the call for the governor’s intervention, urging him to apply the same gesture he extended to other ministries and institutions like Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Aba.

Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), ABSU chapter, Chidi Mba, confirmed the development, stressing the lecturers’ legitimacy and need for immediate inclusion in the payroll system.

“They were duly employed, have no disengagement letters, and have been carrying out academic responsibilities. The government should urgently resolve this, as they are suffering,” Mba said.