Foremost constitutional lawyer Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, has appealed to the Federal Government to honour the agreements reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2020, to avert another round of strike.
He said the country cannot afford to experience another nationwide strike barely a few months after the universities that were closed for half a year due to COVID-19 pandemic were reopened for academic activities.
ASUU, through its national body, last week threatened to embark on another nationwide strike if the Federal Government reneged on the agreement reached with the lecturers in 2020.
Olanipekun, speaking in Ikere-Ekiti at the 25th edition of the annual Chief Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme, warned against the grave implications of shutting down universities.
He said the consistent delays on the part of the Federal Government to fulfil the agreements reached with ASUU were disappointing, adding that everything must be done to prevent strike.
Olanipekun said: “The Federal Government must honour all agreements with ASUU to prevent any strike that can affect the system.
“We are just recovering from the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The effects are still being felt. So, I advise that all agreements should be honoured for our universities to be fully operational.”
He said 134 students, comprising 50 Ikere undergraduates, 50 secondary school students, five Law School students and 29 non-indigenes, who are also undergraduates of universities across the country, benefited from the 2021 edition.
“My happiness is that since the inception of this scheme in 1996, 1,075 secondary school pupils of Ikere origin have benefited.
“At the university level, the scheme has produced 231 graduates, made up of 40 doctors, 38 agriculturists, 27 engineers, 37 linguists, 25 accountants, 16 political scientists and others. It was operated at higher altitude without petty jealousy, partisanship, hatred, bickering, animosity in-fighting, enmity, resentment, antagonism and other mundane considerations,” Olanipekun said.
A Professor of Geography, Abiodun Olatunji, said that the global disease had increased school dropouts, academic decay, reduction in students’ cognitive prowess as well as poverty level.
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