More schools are set to dump the Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU, in the ongoing strike
action embarked upon by the union for almost five
mo
nths now, reports News Express.
This is as the National Executive Council, NEC, of
the union meets today to decide on the sustained
industrial action which many Nigerians have come
to condemn.
The leadership of ASUU had postponed the
scheduled NEC meeting at the Bayero University,
Kano, following the demise of Festus Iyayi, a
former president of the union, who died Tuesday
last week in a motor accident along the Abuja-
Lokoja highway.
The postponement of the NEC meeting to January
15, 2014, had caused widespread outcry as not a
few Nigerians – students, parents and other
stakeholders – condemned the decision of the
union, saying it was evident of insensitivity to the
plight of Nigerian students who are worst hit.
Following the development, several universities
were said to have begun to hold talks on how to
dump the national body and call off the ongoing
strike in their respective institutions.
Regardless of the ongoing strike, some
universities scheduled dates for their post-
Universities Matriculation Examination, UME,
exercises.
For instance, Lagos State University, LASU; the
University of Lagos, UNILAG; and the University of
Jos, UNIJOS, all scheduled to conduct the post UME
examinations, although the national body frowned
at their decision and stalled the examinations in
most schools.
The Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko,
AAUA, in Ondo State has already pulled out of the
strike.
In a statement issued and signed by its registrar,
R.B Olotu, the school had ordered its students to
resume for the second semester on November 25,
thereby boycotting the nationwide strike.
“All students of AAUA are hereby informed that
academic activities of the second semester of
2012/2013 session truncated as a result of the
ASUU national strike are to resume on Monday,
November 25, 2013 with the continuation of
registration on the university portal, while
lectures are to start on Monday, December 2,
2013,” the statement read.
At the Niger State-owned Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), some
academic staff have already commenced
teaching.
This has caused some rancour among ASUU as
some lecturers and students have returned to the
classrooms since Monday following the re-opening
of the institution by the management. But the
branch ASUU Chairman, Dr. Aliyu Badeggi,
insisted that the strike was still in force in the
institution.
Investigations by showed that lectures have
resumed only in three departments – English and
Linguistics, Mathematics and Physics, while Mass
Communication, Business Administration and
other Sciences were yet to resume lectures.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Kolo, had
last Friday directed students to resume lectures
on Monday, after an emergency Senate meeting
approved the re-opening of the institution.
Investigations reveal that several other
institutions, especially those who voted for the
suspension of the strike, are set to dump the
union if it decides to continue with the ongoing
strike after today’s meeting.
It was therefore no surprise when news filtered in
that UNILAG and LASU were set to conduct degree
and matriculation examinations outside their
campuses.
Also, sources say the Enugu State University of
Technology, ESUT, is set to call off the strike if at
the end of today’s meeting ASUU still decides to
go on with the strike.
The Adamawa State University was also reported
to have pulled out of the strike.
Worried by this development, president of ASUU,
Dr. Nasir Fagge has warned vice chancellors to
desist from conducting off-campus examinations
or other academic activities, as such moves could
jeopardise the stand of the union.
“We appeal to our VCs to cease from further
eroding the credibility of the academic profession
which the iconic status of their offices represents.
They should remember that they are destroying
themselves and their professional calling by
desecrating the sacred ethos of university degree
and selection examination,” Fagge said.
It would be recalled that the 61 chapters of the
association met on Monday last week to vote in
their various institutions for or against the
suspension of the strike.
Not a few Nigerians had expected that the
personal intervention of the president would
pacify the striking lecturers and persuade them to
suspend the strike action; but instead, the
industrial action had continued.
ASUU had however directed that all its 61
chapters hold their congresses on Monday,
November 11.
While some chapters were ready to suspend the
strike in the light of the president’s intervention,
others insisted that they would continue the strike
due to what they described as their distrust for
the government.
Whereas the University of Lagos resolved to
suspend the strike, chapters like the University of
Ibadan, UI; University of Benin, UNIBEN; University
of Calabar, UNICAL; University of Jos, UNIJOS, and
the Lagos State University, LASU, vowed to
continue as they insisted that the government
cannot be trusted to fulfil its promise to inject
over N1.1 trillion to universities in the next five
years.
Source http://issuesinngr./2013/11/22/ASUU-strike-callapsing-more-varsities-pull-out-nec-meeting-holds-today-news-express/