Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, has directed the management of Delta State University (DELSU), to ensure that all its promoted staff earned salaries commensurate with their new positions.
Muoboghare gave the directive in a statement signed by Mr Dennis Medi, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the ministry and made available to newsmen on Saturday in Asaba.
The commissioner spoke when the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities ( SSANU), DELSU chapter, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Asaba.
He said the idea of promoting staff without backing it up with salaries commensurate with the new ranks was not proper.
The commissioner noted that the practice resulted in arrears of payments that accrued to such positions accumulating for a very long time.
He said that promotions should be carried out as at when due, stressing that prolonged delay caused unnecessary problems for both the establishment and the beneficiaries.
Muoboghare however reminded the SSANU leadership that in ideal situations, promotions were subject to availability of vacancies unlike what obtained currently where staff got promoted to positions whether they existed or not.
He admonished the unionists to seriously engage the university management on discussions in order to find meaningful solution to the issue of stagnation of the non teaching staff.
He noted that the state university was well funded when compared to other state universities across the country.
According to Muoboghare, the university’s monthly subvention was enough to run the institution without any problem.
Mr Monday Izu, Chairman, SANNU, implored the commissioner to use his good offices to ensure that the state government constituted a visitation panel to evaluate the university administration every four or five years as done in federal universities.