LASU workers insist on VC’s sack

Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa

The standoff at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, at the behest of industrial unions in the school may have taken a new twist as the workers and sundry stakeholders are insisting on the ouster of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oladapo Obafunwa.

A source within the institution yesterday confirmed to The Guardian that the 20th convocation ceremony of the school has been postponed indefinitely.

Activities marking the convocation were to climax this week and The Guardian had on Tuesday reported that the chances of postponing the convocation were sky-high.

Also yesterday, there were unconfirmed reports that the visitor to the school, Governor Babatunde Fashola, may have ordered Obafunwa’s sack. Since the current gale of crisis, which saw Obafunwa and his lieutenants chased out of the school, the state government has remained taciturn.

In fact, it was reliably gathered that the industrial unions including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union of University, NASU, National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU) have made it a condition that they would not meet with the visitor or his representatives as long as Obafunwa remains in office.

The current gale of fracas in the institution began on Monday when the aggrieved workers, before 7. 00 am, barricaded the two entrances- the Badagry Expressway and Iba gate- that lead into the Ojo main campus of the institution. They huddled together and in the process turned back vehicles that were headed for the institution.

The barricade erected by the unionists’ vehicles barred principal officers, staff members and students from gaining access into the institution.

Expectedly, the protest development gave birth to serious traffic snarl along the ever-busy Igando-LASU road as the road was narrowed down to a single lane.

Among other things, the workers were protesting their alleged non-promotion over the years and appointment of contract staff while the formalisation of casual workers in the school’s employ remains unattended to.