Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
Academic activities resumed today in the University of Ibadan, UI as the institution’s chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, ended its one week warning strike.
It would be recalled that last Tuesday, the union declared a one week warning strike as a result of alleged illegal deduction of about 7.5 percent pension since 2004, and incomplete payment of monthly salaries of the staff.
The union said that if the university authority fails to accede to their demands after the warning strike, it would eventually declare an indefinite strike until the authority pays the debts owe the staff.
Since the resumption of the first semester, the institution has lost a month to strike as the non academic staff had earlier embarked on a three week strike action.
Due to the various strikes in the institution, some departments have not commenced lecture for their postgraduate students.
A visit to the institution by our correspondent revealed that some lecturers taught their students while some were still in the strike mood as they did not turn up for lecture.
Some students who spoke to the magazine urged the management to adjust the academic calendar as it would be wrong to start exam as scheduled because reasonable weeks have been lost.
A postgraduate student in an interaction with the magazine said, “I have not received a lecture. The truth is that they have not even started lectures in my department. For your information, I just did my clearance from the postgraduate school. The day the postgraduate school slated me for could not hold because of the strike embarked upon by the non academic staff. I am trying to secure accommodation. I have submitted my request to the postgraduate hall. What I am saying is that if lecture has not started in my department, and the regulation says that we must receive lecture for 13 weeks, have two weeks lecture free, after which, the examination can hold as scheduled. If they want to do what is right, the first semester examination will be holding around August. This is if there is no strike action again”.
An undergraduate student who spoke to the magazine under anonymity said, “I think it is time the authority settled this problem once and for all. It is bad for the management to owe staff and it is bad to be illegally deducting their salaries. This is fraud that should not be encouraged. I think the Vice Chancellor should be sincere to do what is right. He should know that where two elephants fight, it is the grass that will suffer. At the end of the day, the Vice Chancellor and the striking staff will collect their pay but the students will be made to bear the brunt of the crime they did not commit by not receiving enough lectures before examination and unnecessary rush which we will resist because it will affect our quality”.
Reacting to the incessant strike embarked upon by the academic and non-academic staff unions in the institution, the school management brought out a Special Release No. 3948 which reads:
“The Joint Action Congress, comprising the University of Ibadan Branch of the Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU), Nigerian Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), embarked on an industrial action which lasted about three weeks, during the month of March 2017. Similarly, the UI Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) proceeded on a one week warning strike with effect from 5 April, 2017. Management has deliberated extensively on the issues which are to be communicated to each member of staff, in order to clarify the contentious matters and itemize the steps that are being taken to address the issues. It is our fervent hope that enduring peace will return to our dear institution as soon as possible. We solicit the support and cooperation of all members of staff in this respect. The position of the Management on the issues raised by the staff unions is presented in the following pages”.