The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) leadership and state university chapters, where strike is ongoing, have vowed that the plan to break their ranks will be addressed appropriately. FRANK IKPEFAN, Abuja, BISI OLANIYI, Southsouth Bureau Chief, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE, Kaduna, KOLADE ADEYEMI, Jos, ERNEST NWOKOLO, Abeokuta, ELO EDREMODA, Warri, DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA, Enugu, EMMA ELEKWA, Onitsha, SIMON UTEBOR, Yenagoa, BASSEY ANTHONY, Uyo, NSA GILL, Calabar, and SOLA SHITTU, Gombe report.
University lecturers and governors, who attempt to break Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members’ ranks in the ongoing strike, will be dealt with, the union’s leadership and chapters have said.
Lecturers in state universities, on their part, have vowed that they would not end their support for the nationwide strike ordered by the ASUU leadership. They said they were not threatened by any governor.
The union’s national leadership said lecturers attempting to break the ranks of members would be handled at the end of the strike.
“When the strike is over, we will deal with them appropriately,” President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, told The Nation in a telephone interview.
He added: “The state universities have a right to reopen and we also have a right not to teach. There are black legs in every society and they are very few. The exams they conducted were with past question papers, which is illegal.”
Some governors had threatened to sack lecturers who fail to resume work. The governors noted that they had no dispute with the lecturers, who had joined their colleagues at the federal university level.
The threat led to the reopening of some state universities like the Kaduna State University, where students have been sitting for their exams.
ASUU on February 14 embarked on strike to press home its demands for a better welfare package, revamping of the nation’s education sector, among others, a situation that has forced many students to be at home.
Worried by the lingering industrial dispute, President Muhammadu Buhari on July 19 directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to proffer a solution to the challenge and report to him in two weeks. The presidential ultimatum ended last Tuesday with Nigerians waiting for the outcome of the report of the minister.
However, ASUU has remained adamant until its demands are met. On August 1, the union extended the strike by another four weeks, dashing the hopes of students to return to school.
Reacting to Buhari’s order to end the strike, Osodeke insisted that the union was still open to negotiations with government representatives to end the industrial dispute. He said there was no room for a master-slave relationship in the academic world, saying workers had every right to criticise a wrong policy.
We won’t pull out of ASUU strike, KASU lecturers tell El-Rufai
In Kaduna State, lecturers of the Kaduna State University (KASU) have dared Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who had threatened to sack them, if they failed to resume.
KASU lecturers said contrary to the claims of the state government that the local chapter did not have any reason to join the national strike, the challenges in the state universities superseded the one that forced ASUU to declare a national strike.
The state university management had, in line with directive of the state government, reopened the university on July 13, and directed students to come back to begin their examinations.
The Acting Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof. Abdullahi Ashafa, said the university was reopening to enable its final year students graduate after writing their examinations.
Ashafa said the admission processes would be closed in September and the students had not written their second semester examination because of the protracted industrial action by ASUU.
He, therefore, appealed to the leadership of ASUU, KASU branch, to reason with the university for the sake of the students, so that they can graduate and benefit from the available opportunity for foreign scholarships.
But, when our correspondent visited the university, it was observed that some departments, especially in the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Art, had resumed and made their students write the second semester examination. But, departments under the Faculty of Social Science had not resumed.
Some of the students sighted on the university’s main campus told The Nation that they had since started examinations. They, however, confirmed the exams were neither administered nor supervised by their lecturers.
Speaking for the striking lecturers, the ASUU Chairman, Comrade Peter Adamu said his members were still on strike and that every academic duties going on in KASU were not being carried out by lecturers.
Lecturers in Edo varsity ignore Obaseki
The majority of the lecturers at the Edo State Government-owned Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, ignored the directive of Governor Godwin Obaseki to suspend their indefinite strike, it was learnt.
They have refused to return to the classrooms, while pursuing suits in two courts.
A former Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), AAU Chapter, Dr. Monday Igbafen, in a telephone interview, stated that of the over 500 teaching staff members of AAU, no fewer than “50 cowards among the lecturers” returned to the classrooms, following Obaseki’s threat to sack them.
Igbafen also asked the governor to stop intimidating the dedicated members of the union, but to do the needful to move the education sector forward.
The lecturers at the second Edo State government-owned university, Edo State University, Uzairue, formerly Edo University, Iyamho, have refused to join the nationwide ASUU strike, in view of Obaseki’s recent ban on unions’ activities in the state tertiary institutions, and threat to sack them.
OOU, ASUU, TASUED ASUU chapters: we’ll not bow to threat
Lecturers of the Ogun State-owned Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun have vowed to remain resolute with the ongoing nationwide strike.
The lecturers, who spoke through their leaders, Dr. Joel Adeniyi Okewale (ASUU chairman, OOU) and Dr. Kazeem Idowu Rufai (ASUU chairman, TASUED), said threats were strategies to divide them and weaken their resolve.
Okewale said: “Threat of sack is not new. It is part of the cycle during industrial disputes. It’s a divide and rule strategy to test the resolve of the union. I don’t think anybody can threaten us with that now. If it happens, it will be addressed appropriately.”
Also, Rufai said: “The strike is total and comprehensive in TASUED and we are determined to stay on till our demands are fully met.’’
Delta State varsities not on strike
Both lecturers and students of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka; Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro; University of Delta, Agbor and Dennis Osadebe University, Asaba returned to campus amid the strike action by ASUU in March.
Particularly, an official bulletin of Wednesday, March 16, which was obtained by this reporter, directed staff and students of DELSU to resume.
It said the order was given by the Senate.
‘Why ESUT lecturers didn’t join ASUU strike’
Lecturers at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) have given reasons for not being part of the ongoing ASUU strike.
The lecturers, whose students are writing their first semester exam, said they had nothing to do with the strike.
Though the Chairman of ASUU ESUT branch, Prof. Chinedu Aguba, could not be reached for comments, some of the lecturers, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the issues being agitated for by ASUU were being enjoyed by his members, adding that the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi had addressed the issues.
Why Ojukwu varsity won’t join ASUU strike, says VC
Vice-Chancellor of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam, Anambra State, Prof. Greg Nwakoby, has reiterated that the decision of the institution to withdraw from the ongoing strike by ASUU was necessitated by the interest of staff and students.
Represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Osita Chiaghanam, Nwakoby, said: “Salaries of the federal universities are funded 100 per cent by the Federal Government, whereas the state universities work out their salaries from subventions and internal revenue.
“Had the state university participated in the strike and at the end of negotiation an agreement is reached, the Federal Government implements immediately while we, at the state universities, will have to meet the governors to renegotiate for the implementation.
“It is not just the issue of joining strike but after the strike, the Federal Government will start implementing it immediately, but will take long for the governors to implement at the state level.”
We’re not threatened by governor, says NDU ASUU chair
Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Associate Prof. Tonbra Kingdom, has said the union is still intact.
He also said no member of the body had gone back to class.
Kingdom stated: “He (Governor Douye Diri) has not threatened lecturers and he has continued to pay our salaries. For some universities like Kaduna State University, it is not true that they have gone back to class, it is just a few persons who feel they have affiliations with the state governor that have gone back to class and those ones have been disciplined.
PLASU: we stand with ASUU
PLASU ASUU Chairman, Dr. Monday Hassan Kanam, said: “As it’s, we don’t have such a threat like in Kaduna and Edo states. So, until such pronouncement is made, we don’t want to preempt.
“We are not afraid at all, but waiting. Mind you, the ongoing strike is a national strike, declared by our national leaders.
“In this case, we have no option because what happened to one is what happens to the other.
“PLASU now is under lock. No activities taking place. Security personnel have taken over the institution.”
‘AKSU lecturers not under any sack threat by Akwa Ibom Govt’
Lecturers of the Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) are not under any sack threat by the state government, the university’s ASUU Chairman, Dr. Inyang Udosen, has said.
Speaking to The Nation yesterday, Udosen said skeletal academic activities are taking place in the university, even though they are part of the nationwide strike by ASUU.
According to him, the “no-work, no-pay rule” meted out to their counterparts in the Federal universities did not apply to them in AKSU.
He said the state government has being paying salaries of lecturers. Dr. Udosen lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel for increasing the subvention to AKSU from N250 million to N500 million annually.
