VC Prof, Idowu Olayinka

The students, 3,500 of them, were gathered for an orientation programme when the workers from three non academic unions emerged to disrupt proceedings.

Mayhem followed.

“While trying to run for safety, about four students were seriously injured and they have been taken to the school clinic.It is so unfortunate that the freshers were exposed to vigorous union protest, it could have been your daughter or my own son,’’ said a depressed Professor Idowu Olayinka, the Vice chancellor, who announced the postponement of the matriculation scheduled for tomorrow.

The vice chancellor said t‎hat management would call a senate meeting on Thursday morning to decide on the way forward.

The unions involved in the protest were Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

The strike was to protest non-remittance of deductions to cooperative societies since December 2015.

Other demands of the union included non-payment of salaries of staff of the University of Ibadan Staff School as well as arrears of salaries owed members of the unions.

The strike paralysed academic and administrative activities on the campus, especially the on-going orientation programme for new students.

The union members also locked the gates leading into the institution, preventing vehicular movement and causing a traffic gridlock in front of the institution.

The protesting workers were led by the Chairmen of NASU, Mr Segun Arojo, and his SSANU counterpart, Wale Akinremi.

The protesters also marched to the conference centre and disrupted the on-going orientation programme for new students.

Some of the students jumped through the window while some locked themselves inside the toilets.

Those that sustained injuries, it was learnt, were taken to the Jaja Clinic inside the university.