FG warns unions as 11 state universities avoid the ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Institutions has called for a strike, but no less than 11 public universities have decided not to take part.

On Monday, our reporters reported that academic activities were ongoing in the three universities owned by Lagos State as well as the universities controlled by Osun, Rivers, Delta, Borno, Anambra, Kwara, and Akwa Ibom states.

The Federal Government pledged on Monday to put an end to the culture of strikes in the nation’s higher institutions. This was in preparation for the National Universities Commission meeting with vice-chancellors and pro-chancellors of federal universities scheduled for today (Tuesday).

The teachers at certain state institutions are not on strike, despite the fact that the ASUU strike has already lasted 204 days.

Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt and Rivers State University in Port Harcourt, two institutions controlled by Rivers State, did not participate in the strike by their lecturers.

Academic pursuits continued at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt as numerous students took exams on Monday.

Master Ovum Amadi, a final-year political science student, said in an interview with The PUNCH that he was getting ready for his exams the next week. Examinations have begun, he said. Those on level 200 have begun.

When contacted, Dr. Mandah Stanley, an ASUU member at the university, said that the union was now in court over some leadership difficulties.

University spokeswoman Dr. Ngozi Okiridu said there were two key reasons why the school had no justification for joining the strike.

The university, according to her, is a center for teacher training. He said, “Governor Nyesom Wike immediately pays us salary each month. He has not missed a payment in a day.

Additionally, our reporter said that classes were in session at Osun State University.

According to Dr. Weinde Olaosebikan, the acting chairperson of ASUU at the university, teachers in the school did not participate in the current strike since the branch had been suspended by the national leadership of ASUU.

Despite the ASUU branch’s location inside the institution, classes were still being held at Delta State University, Abraka.

According to a student who talked to our reporter on the condition of anonymity, the university was currently holding the second semester test.

The head of the ASUU branch at DELSU, Prof. Godwin Demaki, disagreed, claiming that none of his members were employed as professors.

“DELSU has more than 300 professors, of whom roughly 200 are full members of ASUU,” he said.

The remaining individuals who are going to lecture halls to teach are those who have not yet joined the union. They do this covertly because they know that if we attempt to enforce the strike, they would flee.

The strike has no impact on the Technical University of Ibadan. The university, which is controlled by the government of Oyo State, is a for-profit institution.

When our reporter called Mr. Akeem Lasisi, the Technical Institution’s public relations officer, he said that the university was not impacted by the ongoing ASUU strike.

The Chukwuemeka Odumekwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, which is controlled by the Anambra State, is also unaffected by the strike.

In a phone conversation with one of our reporters on Monday, the school’s public relations officer, Dr. Harrison Madubueze, said that the institution had never participated in the ASUU strike, much alone considered doing so.

Osita Chiaghanam, the chairman of the ASUU chapter at the institution, refused to comment on the matter. According to Rebecca Uzor, a student in the Department of Social Sciences’ 200-level program, the students were not impacted by the ASUU strike and were unaware that it was occurring since regular lectures had been taking place at the university without interruption.

Monday’s classes at Kwara State University in Malete, in the state’s Moro Local Government Area, were as usual.

On Monday, the MINIECHAT reporter saw that KWASU students were sitting for their test, which had already started two weeks before.

Dr. Salau Sheu, the chairman of the KWASU branch of ASUU, did not return calls to his phone number on Monday, despite the fact that he had previously told the correspondent in an earlier interview that the reason the lecturers at the institution had not joined the strike was because of a provision in the ASUU constitution that prevents new members from participating in any industrial action for a predetermined amount of time.

LASU did not participate in the ongoing ASUU strike, according to Dr. Gbenga Owolabi of the Department of Mass Communication, an ASUU member at Lagos State University, Ojo, because the national body of the union did not recognize the current ASUU-LASU officials who were chosen by the former vice-chancellor of LASU, Prof. Lanre Fagboun, after he fired the four executives of ASUU-LASU.

To stop the ongoing strikes at tertiary institutions throughout the nation, the Federal Government has announced it is examining a range of solutions.

This information was revealed in a report titled “Industrial relations – Tertiary education” that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, created and gave only to one of our reporters in Abuja.