Plateau State Head of Service, Azi Izam, has called on the  staff of the tertiary institutions in the state to call off their strike embarked upon last Tuesday, saying that the government has been concerned about the institutions and has been trying its best to solve all contending issues.

All the state tertiary institutions in the state, apart from Plateau State University (PLASU), have been shut down following some grievances and demands they want the government to meet.

Their grievances bother on cooperative and union dues deduction, hitches from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), pensions and gratuity of members, peculiar academic allowance, among other demands. The institutions involved in the strike are under the Joint Union of PlateauTertiary Institutions (JUPTI).

They include the Plateau State Polytechnic, College of Health Technology Zawan, College of Health Technology Pankshin, College of Art, Science and Remedial Studies Purgwi, College of Agric in Mikan and College of Edication in Gindiri.

The JUPTI Chairman, Paul Dakogol, told our reporter that they have written several times to the government on their demands but they kept deferring them.

He said their demands were genuine because the schools have been going through challenges and were also suffering from infrastructural decay.

However, the Head of Service, Izam, said many of the problems predated  the present administration and that everything could not be solved at the same time due to shortage of funds.

Nonetheless, Azi  Izam said he was appealing to the staff to call off the strike for the sake of the students, while they continue discussing with the government until they all reach an amicable solution.