A data entry staff of the University of Benin who has reportedly ended his life over alleged frustration arising from the unresolved six months old strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU.
The University Staffer, identified as Carater Oshodin was said to have committed suicide after he was allegedly seen begging for financial support from neighbors within the University’s premises on Thursday evening, Daily Independent reports.
The Federal Government and the leadership of ASUU had been entrapped in disagreement over irregularities in salaries by the government Integrated Personnel and Payroll System IPPS, as well as the university workers’ welfare with no end in sight to when both parties will fuse.
According to a source, the now deceased Oshodin who was said to have been completely depressed over ‘no work, no pay” of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration later that night reportedly hung himself.
An attempt made to confirm the incident with the SSANU gaffer of the University Of Benin Branch, Comrade Osewa Bedrocks, couldn’t yield the desired result as he declined to comment.
However, the University of Benin Public Relations Officer, Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, declined to comment on the issue despite admitting to being aware of the incident.
When contacted, Edo Police command spokesman Chidi Nwanbuzor could not be reached for comment as his phone was ringing no reply.
The death of Carter Oshodin is one of many facing similar challenges in the University communities across the country that now wallows in abject financial defect owing largely to the prolonged industrial action.
Concerned countrymen who are worried over a series of meetings that have ended in standoffs have continued to appeal to both parties to find common ground in resolving the areas of common interests to allow operations in the University to resume.
