Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says members of the union may find it difficult to get to their respective schools on Monday as they do not have money for transport.
Osodeke said this on Sunday while speaking about matters arising from the suspension of the ASUU strike on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
According to him, unlike those days when lecturers lived in staff quarters very close to campuses, most lecturers now live far away from the school campuses as most schools could not provide accommodation for them.
He said since they have not been paid for eight months, it would be difficult for them to afford the transport fares to their respective schools to teach students.
“In schools those days, every lecturer lives on campus and you can trek to your office but these days, many lecturers live 20, 30 kilometres to their offices. How will they pay for their transport to work?
“These are the issues we are going to have, that the branches will have to deal with. We expect the government to pay the money [eigth months salary arrers] so that these people will go back to work while we are negotiating on other issues.”
Confirming the suspension of the strike, he said “we suspended the strike hoping that the government will do the needful and by tomorrow, if the universities are open, hopefully, the lecturers will go back to work.
“We are resuming because we are obeying an industrial court judgement because the issues have not been fully resolved, no agreement signed.
“We are also hoping that with the intervention of the Speaker [of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila], as promised by him, we will resolve this problem within a very short time.
“Our lecturers will teach but you can’t expect someone who is owed eight months’ salary, maybe from his bank, he has collected more than N1m as a loan and you have not paid him one kobo and you want him to go to class and teach.
“I pray they go there because of the children and do the best they can do. You don’t expect a hungry man to go there [school] with an open mind.”
Findings by our correspondent revealed that universities are set to hold special meetings to deliberate on new academic calendars instead of the one that was destabilised by the strike.
Meanwhile, following the suspension of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, public universities across the country have made plans for special meetings of senate councils in preparation for examinations and resumption.
According to a memo sighted by The PUNCH correspondent, the University of Benin has slated a special senate meeting for October 18, 2022.
The memo, which was signed by the institution’s Deputy Registrar, M.I. Owie, partly read, “The vice-chancellor, Prof Lilian Salami, has approved that the meeting of the provost, deans, and directors should be held at the senate chambers on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.”
In a memo from the Federal University of Lafia, the school noted that the senate council would meet on Monday (today) indicating its focus on “reviewing the academic calendar.”
Other universities which have announced meetings for the Senate Council include the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, October 18, 2022; the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, October 17, 2022; the Federal University of Dustin-Ma, Katsina, October 17, 2022; and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, among others.
Meanwhile, other universities, such as Sule Lamido University, have ordered students to resume immediately.
In a memo addressed to students and members of staff, the university management “encouraged students to resume back to school.”
Other schools that have announced resumption include the Tai-Solarin University of Education, the University of Port-Harcourt; the University of Calabar and Bayero University Kano.
