The Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has spoken out against the institution’s management’s decision, calling for academic activities to resume.
Last Monday, EKSU Vice Chancellor Edward Olanipekun asked the university to resume academic activities despite the current ASUU strike.
Since February, institutions throughout the country have been shuttered owing to the ASUU strike, which has now evolved into a complete and indefinite strike.
Mr. Olanipekun continued, “It was a decision taken by the stakeholders about the effect of the protracted strike on the institution, and our stance regarding our determination to resume work and restore normality has been made public.”
Even though non-academic employees and some students were present at the school on Monday, teachers stayed away per the mandate.
The professors determined at their Congress on Wednesday that the administration’s attempt to reopen the school was ineffective, since they would only return to work if ordered to do so by the National Executive Committee of ASUU.
According to a statement released after the congress and made available to our reporter, the congress sought to inform members of the NEC’s decision to call an indefinite strike and assess the EKSU situation.
In a statement, ASUU Chairman Kayode Arogundade stated, “The unique issues of EKSU are not new to any of us, and they predate our present troubles.”
“As such, a request to restart academic activities in the middle of a national action reflects an effort to criminalize ASUU’s battles, as well as a transparent deceit that EKSU is not a key beneficiary of prior statewide fights,” the authors write.
In order to achieve this objective, it was decided that the University (EKSU) Administration should treat ASUU with the same respect as other sister unions prior to the end of their statewide strike action, and cease behaving as if the union is irrelevant to the running of the system.
In the absence of a mandate from the NEC, ASUU-EKSU is a very powerful branch of ASUU and will not surrender to any kind of blackmail or coercion to end the present conflict.