The economic recession in the country has claimed its first set of causalities in the ivory towers as  the Federal University, Lafia, has sacked 35 non-teaching staff in what may be the first batch of retrenchment.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Mohammed Sanusi, a professor, who disclosed this to journalists in Lafia, said the sacking of the affected staff was due to lackof funds to pay their salaries.

The affected staff were among those engaged by the university earlier this year comprising of 11 corps members, who were retained after their service year in the school, and 24 others.

Liman said the council had directed the management to source for money and pay off the affected staff since they had worked for over five months without pay.

“It would be inhuman to keep the staff working when we cannot pay them given our poor budget, and that is why the council decided that we should pay them off,” he said.

According to him, the university consistently has a shortfall of over N38 million in her allocation for several months, which has adversely affected the running of the institution.

The VC said the management had uncovered a job racketeering syndicate in the university, which had given illegal employment to some persons.

“When we got wind of the matter, the management set up an investigative committee, which turned in a report that was submitted to the council.

“The university council referred the matter to its disciplinary committee for investigation and appropriate action,” he said.