ASUU: V-C urges FG to take steps to end strike
Prof. Jeremiah Ojediran, the Vice-Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun, on Tuesday goaded the Nigerian government to take concrete steps to end the ongoing ASUU strike which has now lasted for 141 days.
Prof. Ojediran in an interview stated that it is wrong for the government to keep students at home indefinitely, stating that the strike could have been averted if the government had taken action during the warning strike.
“Academy is going down the drain as structures, classrooms, and laboratories in most of the public universities are dilapidating.
“Government needs to look at what Nigeria is doing wrongly as a nation,’’ he added.
The vice-chancellor expressed his worry over Nigerian children travelling to Malaysia and other Asian countries to study because those countries focused more on quality education to grow their economies.
He also called on the Federal Government to provide an environment conducive to intellectual development by providing critical infrastructure in public universities.
Ojediran expressed worries that Nigerians were shunning academic careers because of decaying infrastructure and poor remuneration for lecturers.
ASUU began a four-week warning strike on Feb.14 to demand the revitalisation of public universities; payment of earned academic allowances, and the adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) system of paying salaries to members.
The union had earlier declared that it preferred UTAS, developed by the universities to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System of payment for Federal Government workers.
The strike was also to demand the payment of promotion arrears, and the renegotiation of agreements reached between the union and government in 2009.
Three weeks before Feb. 14, ASUU issued an ultimatum to the Nigerian government nudging it to address all pending issues to avert another round of strikes.
