The Joint Action Committee of Senior Staff of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, yesterday protested against the cancellation of the two-day off given about a year ago by the state government to serve as a palliative and cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.
The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions such as “JAC of SSANU and NASU says no to divide and rule”, “JAC of SSANU and NASU of OOU says cancellation of two-day off duty is illegal”, “OOU Management stop manipulation of the university laws”, and “OOU management must obey the two-day directive as declared by the state government,” among others.
This is just as the two unions also clashed with the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, accusing the union of serving as the mouthpiece of the university with their position on the protest by the non-academic staff.
Recall that in September 2024, the Ogun State Government approved two days off duty as palliative for the state workers to ease the burden of the cost of transportation, which has gone up due to the subsidy removal from petroleum products.
They claimed that despite writing several letters to the management and giving them seven days’ ultimatum notice twice to rescind the decision to unilaterally cancel the two days off, the management remained adamant, hence the need to protest what they described as the insensitivity of the management to the welfare of its teeming non-academic staff.
The staff also alleged that the management of the university was high-handed, with plans to sack some teaching staff, among other acts that are said to be inimical to their well-being and the stability of the university.
Speaking against the backdrop of the development, the Chairman of NASU, OOU chapter, Comrade Adebola Odufuwa, explained that “We are here to express our dissatisfaction with the management for the cancellation of the two days off that the state government gave us as palliative to cushion the rising cost of transportation due to the subsidy removal.
“When we got this information three weeks ago, we wrote the management and gave them seven days’ ultimatum notice twice to reverse this directive while we had a joint meeting to resolve this issue, but we didn’t hear anything from them.
“Rather than the management addressing us, what we saw is one of the unions, ASUU precisely, talking. We really don’t know their concerns in this matter.
“If at all the palliative will be removed, what should have been done is for the management to have called all the stakeholders for a meeting and see how to work around the issue.
“For instance, in one of the universities, when it was agreed that the university staff would be coming to work four times a week, they had a roundtable discussion and arrived at substantial monetary benefits that were given to staff to cover up for the one day.
“However, in our university, we have nothing to show, and the economy has continued to bite harder. Our university is situated on the outskirts; staff of the university coming from Ijebu will spend an average of N5,000 daily, those from Ijebu Igbo and Ago Iwoye will spend an average of between N3,000 and N2,000 daily.
“In addition to this insensitivity from the management is the regular threat to sack the staff. So, we are suffering and we can’t pretend any longer.
We beg Gov Dapo Abiodun to please set up a visitation panel to come over to the university and see things for themselves. There is fire on the mountain, and we humbly beg Gov Abiodun to come to our rescue.”
Speaking similarly, the Chairman of JAC of SSANU and NASU, Dr. Adedeji Lamina, equally called for the need for Gov Abiodun to set up a visitation panel to visit the university and take a thorough look at its activities over the years.
Dr. Lamina explained that the visitation panel ought to visit the university once in five years, but that, he said, has not happened in the last ten years.
He added that “Aside from the issue of two days off that was wilfully taken away by the management against the state government’s declaration, the issue of threats to sack the staff is becoming too much. We have been in this university for over 20 years, but it is this administration that has taken the highest number of people to the disciplinary committee.
“Their plan is to use the report of the disciplinary committee to disengage the staff. The non-teaching staff are being marginalised. Just recently, 250 staff were employed into the academic section, but none for the non-teaching staff, only for the management to be claiming that we are even too many.
“And as we are here, we saw a release by ASUU OOU, and we began to wonder, when does a union become the mouthpiece of the management of the university? We don’t really know what their interest is in this matter.
“For instance, we started the contributory pension scheme in 2008, but they, ASUU, started about three years ago. They can be claiming that the payment is up, but what about those of us who have been paying since 2008 and our money is still hanging in the balance?
“And if a union is writing against another union, it only goes to show that the management has polarised the unions using divide and rule tactics, which is wrong. We call on Gov Dapo Abiodun to please set up a visitation panel to visit the university and address this imbalance.
“What the law says is that every five years, the visitor to the university, who is the governor, must set up a visitation panel to come around and examine the activities of the university.”
Contacted for a reaction, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, said that all the allegations by the two unions are outright falsehoods and that he would be organising an engagement with the media on Wednesday for a detailed response.
Prof. Agboola stated that “All that the unions said are tissues of lies. They are outright misinformation, but I have called for a press briefing tomorrow, Wednesday, for a detailed response with facts and figures.”
