Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has issued a stern warning to striking workers, threatening that he would employ a new set of staff both academic and non-academic for Imo State University, IMSU, and also privatize the institution if they don’t call off the strike.
Okorocha made this disclosure in the state capital Owerri where he observed that the salaries paid to the university staff were higher than those of their counterparts in the South-East.
Although he admitted that he has not fulfilled his promise of N800 million to the school, the governor however, insisted that it was not enough reason to shut down the school since March 2016.
He said: “A comparative analysis has been made with other state universities in the South-East zone and it was discovered that Imo pays far more than other states. IMSU workers only argued that the institution offers qualitative studies than the other state-owned universities in the South-East.
“Honestly, if the workers fail to call off the strike, I will hire new teachers and concession the university to any willing investor, in the interest of our children.
“I have discovered that most IMSU lecturers are not happy with the free education programme of my administration. They want it to fail.
“Perhaps, they want the students to pay school fees and this is not what I am prepared to accommodate.”
