Frequent abduction of UBa Lecturers: National Union of Teachers of Higher Education Announces 10-Day Strike

The General Assembly of the University of Bamenda Chapter of the National Union of Teachers of Higher Education known by its French acronym as SYNES has announced a 10-day strike action in the University of Bamenda.

The strike action is expected to run from Monday 18th to Friday 29th October 2021.

In a strike notice made public by the union, the teachers noted that despite the determination and resilience covered for the past five years by the lecturers and staff of the university to adapt to their working conditions, the rate of kidnapping of lecturers keeps rising.

Considering the need to optimize security strategies to minimize some of the risks associated with the incessant kidnapping and payment of ransom, the SYNES UBa chapter decided to call for this strike action.

Recently, three lecturers were kidnapped at gunpoint by unidentified men along the Bambui-Bambili axis.

The teachers noted that the degrading nature of the said road made up of so many potholes has made it very easy for their cars to be intercepted by the armed men.

“The potholes now serve as easy traps for informal gunmen to surrender at gunpoint and kidnap university staff”, a part of the notice read.

The teachers believe that, if the road is completed and rendered fluid, it shall gravely reduce the possibility of the gunmen skipping onto the road extemporaneously to intercept cars.

The CCAST campus which hosts three main faculties are already being envisaged by the teachers as a new kidnapping zone because of the dilapidated nature of the feeder road linking the trunk A road to the CAMPUS.

The general assembly of SYNES UBa also resolved to share ideas on how to tackle the security concerns of the lecturers and staff.

The strike action will continue if solutions are not initiated to minimize the security challenge university lecturers are currently facing on the Bambui-Bambili stretch of road.

The kidnapping of students, lecturers, and staff of the University of Bamenda has become rampant since the escalation of the crisis. Parents and lecturers always spend huge sums of money as ransom.

Timfuchi Aaron