Ekiti varsity lecturers, management disagree over resumption

• ASUU insists strike continues
• I met with FG, ASUU, the strike will end soon, says Oluwo

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ekiti State University (EKSU) chapter, has rejected the directive by the management of the institution that students should resume for academic activities.

The EKSU management had, at its meeting held on May 23, 2022, ordered the reopening of the university for academic activities, beginning from May 24.

In a statement signed by the university’s Director, Corporate Affairs, Bode Olofinmuagun, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eddy Olanipekun, said the management took the decision, in recognition of the pains being experienced by students and parents owing to the protracted ASUU strike.

BUT disagreeing with the resumption directive, the ASUU Chairman, Dr. Kayode Arogundade, said members of the union were in full compliance with the ongoing strike by the parent body of the union, urging students to disregard the resumption directive earlier announced by the management.

The ASUU chairman, in a statement made available to journalists in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said that members of the union had not backed out of the national strike.

Arogundade stated that the instruction handed down by the vice-chancellor and the committee of Deans that all academic members of staff should resume be disregarded, saying it negates the current struggle as a union.

“ASUU EKSU wishes to use the medium to announce to the public that mandating the reopening of the university is purely political and EKSG is not ready to attend to the demand of the University.

“Also, it is worth noting that ASUU-EKSU executive members have been receiving threats from various government agents and the university management.

“In view of this, the public is hereby notified and put on alert to the threats that if any harm is inflicted on any member of the ASUU-EKSU executives, the Ekiti State government and university management should be held responsible,” the statement stated.

MEANWHILE, a traditional ruler in Osun State, the Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi, yesterday, said he had intervened in the ongoing industrial impasse between the Federal Government and ASUU and assured that the strike would end soon.

He then appealed to protesting students nationwide to maintain orderliness, adding that his meeting with the Federal Government and the striking lecturers was to appeal to them to settle their disagreement and end the ongoing strike.