Herbalists back ASUU as students kick

By OLA AJAYI, IBADAN
Students have called on the Academic Staff Union of
Universities not to betray them in the on-going
strike. They said they would not like a situation
when the strike would be called off without
achieving anything.
This came as herbalists in Oyo State pledged their
support for ASUU.
According to the President of the herbalists in the
state, Dr. Arunoyemi Asanlaye, “we are in support
of ASUU on the on-going strike”.
The students in large number at a town hall
meeting, tagged, Save Public Education Campaign,
which was organised by ASUU, UI chapter at the
Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan Monday
showed their displeasure at the seeming docility
and indifference of the Nigeria Labour Congress
calling on the labour union to embark on solidarity
strike to force government to respond to ASUU
demands.
Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, Chairman, ASUU UI chapter,
said the union would use any method to actualize
their demands clarified that the struggle was not
about the salaries of lecturers but the funding of
education in the country.
Ajiboye said, “We are using so many methods. We
cannot tell you when to move to Bodija Market. That
is part of our strategies.
Instead of begging ASUU, the government should
declare a state of emergency in the education
sector”.
Responding to the call by the students, Mr. Bashir
Olanrewaju, NLC Chairman in Oyo State, said, “By
Wednesday, we will come out with a more proactive
stance on the strike. Though, students have called
on us to go on strike, we will not go on strike now.
We will only mediate. If an affiliate has a problem,
joining it in strike will collapse the whole system.
We have never been docile about the incident”.
Prof. Remi Raji, lecturer at the Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan, said, ”Government should look
at the NEEDS Assessment report. It is almost a
year now that the 169 recommendations had been
made and nothing has been done.
Salary of lecturers is just one of the nine demands
of ASUU”.