Strike: Varsity Lecturers Ready For Sack …As Ultimatum Ends, UNIPORT Re-Opens

There were speculations that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would call off their five-month old strike after the burial ceremony of an ex-ASUU President, Prof Festus Iyayi, who was killed in an accident involving Kogi State Governor’s convoy but lecturers who spoke to our correspondent insisted that the strike continues until the contentious issues are resolved.
The Chairman of ASUU, University of Benin, Dr. Tony Monye-Emina said, “the strike has not been called off. The authority (of the institution) is following government’s directive; we are not shifting our stand. It is not a local strike. “It is not true we are calling off the strike.”
Also, ASUU in Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, vowed not to obey government’s order that lecturers should return to classroom on Monday. The Chairman, ASUU, OOU chapter, Dr. Nasir Adesola said the lecturers would not succumb to threats by government to sack them.
Adesola, who is also the South-West Coordinator, ASUU, stressed that since the lecturers did not go on strike in the first instance because of government, they would not return to work by coercion from government.
He stated that the lecturers would only go back to the classroom when the government had met their demands.
Similarly, the ASUU Chairman in Enugu State University of Technology, Prof. Gab Agu, said lecturers would not resume on Monday. He said it was a rumour that the union would call of the strike.
He stated that the National Executive Council of ASUU would meet and agree before the strike could be called off.
The University of Port Harcourt branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vowed to continue with the on-going nationwide strike despite the resumption of academic activities by the university.
Chairperson of ASUU in the University, Professor Anthonia Okerenkwo who said this in a telephone interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, said that no amount of threat would force the union in the University to abandon the strike.
Okerenkwo said that the opening of the institution was in line with the directive by Vice Chancellors of universities to open their schools for academic activities but noted that the decision was not binding on members of the union.
“We are still on strike. The Vice Chancellor was only following directive. No lecturer will go to class until the matter is resolved”, she said.
The University of Port Harcourt ASUU Chairperson also described the demand of the union as very legitimate, stressing that ASUU was not only fighting for itself, but the Nigerian education sector.
She also described as laughable statement by the presidency that the Federal Government had met the demand of the union, noting that the Federal Government should follow due process in the resolution of the crisis with the union.
The chairperson also denied that the union was being used by some opposition parties in the country to destablise the administration, contending that ASUU strike was not new in the country.
Meanwhile, some students of the University of Port Harcourt have commended the management of the institution for re-opening the university for academic activities. A cross-section of students who spoke to The Tide at the university campus also pleaded with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the campus to reconsider its stand and return to the classroom.
Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory and Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Philip Aduda, has also joined concerned Nigerians to plead with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end its five-month industrial action.
Aduda made the plea last Friday, when he led his House of Representatives counterparts on a courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Professor James Adelabu.
He said that the power tussle between the federal government and the union over the order to return to the classroom or be sacked was giving parents sleepless nights.
While congratulating institutions that have already resumed, the lawmaker urged others to have a rethink in the interest of students and the nation’s education sector. He added that since most of ASUU demands had been met, it would only be realistic to go back to classroom while negotiation continues.
“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. I want to call on other institutions and ASUU to give government a chance by going back to school while negotiation continues. “If government on its part has met some of your demands and is in the process of continuing, then I feel you should have a rethink because if you have a problem with somebody and the person has moved a step forward, then, it also behoves you to move a step further to give encouragement to the person”, he said.
Also, the National Association of Kogi State Students (NAKOSS) yesterday expressed support for the Federal Government’s directive to the striking universities lecturers to resume work on Monday or be sacked.
President of the association, Mr Shuaib Abubakar, expressed the concern in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Lokoja.
He said that the strike was becoming ridiculous, adding that the union welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to sack the lecturers if they refused to go back to work.
Abubakar explained that government could not meet all the lecturers’ demands at a time and urged other labour union leaders to persuade ASUU to end the strike.
He also urged ASUU to go back to work in the interest of the students and their future.
The student leader said that the strike had added extra year to the programme of the affected students, adding that such situation was frustrating.
He, however, expressed the hope that all the striking institutions would resume on Monday in compliance with the government’s instruction.

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (left), in a warm handshake with the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James F. Enwistle, when the Ambassador visited him in Port Harcourt over the weekend.