Chat212 - News Mail Report...
- While Addressing the NewsMen, The striking lecturers, told journalists they are only waiting for the sack letters the Federal Government threatened to give them.
The striking lectures also refused to sign the attendance registers in their respective institutions as ordered by the government.
They said they were only waiting for the sack letters the Federal Government threatened to give them if they did not return to work.
In many of the universities visited by our correspondents, only administrative offices opened for business while the lecture rooms were empty. Particularly, lecturers’ offices remained shut.
Among some of the universities visited by our correspondents were the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Calabar, Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, and the University of Uyo.
Others are Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, had urged the striking lecturers to return to work or on before December 9 or risk being sacked.
But the leadership of ASUU had remained unfazed by the FG’s directive and threat. They accused the government of insincerity in the resolution of the face-off.
At the NAU, Awka on Monday, though some of the lecturers were on campus, they did not teach. The institution’s Faculty of Social Sciences, for instance, had its classrooms and laboratories shut.
The hostels were opened but students had yet to return to the campus.
At UI, only a few lecturers were on the campus. They neither taught nor signed the attendance register.
The institution’s chapter of ASUU earlier in the day had sent a message to its members, urging them to be calm and resolute in their demands.
The National Treasurer of ASUU, Dr. Ademola Aremu, said they would have wasted their time and effort if they caved in and returned to work under threat.
He said, “How can you call off a strike when there is nothing to show for it? The government is not qualified to call off the strike. Our union is awaiting the government to state all it has done in black and white. However, it is a serious insult on us for the government to be harassing us with sacking threat. We are not casual workers or labourers. Our research work has been ongoing.”
Also, at UNICAL and at the Cross River University of Science and Technology, students and their teachers stayed away from the schools.
The UNICAL ASUU Chairman, Dr. James Okpiliya, insisted that the Federal Government must meet the lecturers’ demands before the strike could be suspended.
Lecturers also shunned work at OAU even though a few of the students were on the campus.
One of our correspondents observed that many of the students who returned to campus were those residing within Ife and its environs.
The Chairman of ASUU at the university, Prof. Adegbola Akinola, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said that the strike was still on.
He said, “Our union did not close the universities, what we did was to withdraw teaching services and they will remain withdrawn until the government properly documents the agreement reached with us on November 4, 2013.”
