LASU: ASUU threatens strike

LASU: ASUU threatens strike
on december 31, 2013 at 9:52 am in news
*Student of the Lagos State Univesity protesting
hike in school fees
Dr Adekunle Idris, Chairman, Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU), Lagos State University, Ojo
(LASU) chapter, on Monday called on the State
Government to urgently address some burning
issues in the institution.
Briefing journalists in Lagos, Idris urged the state
government, university council and management to
address the lingering issues to forestall looming
crises.
He said that the ASUU congress in the university
had mandated the executive committee to explore
avenues of dialogue to resolve the contending
issues.
The union leader, however, said that they may be
forced to declare an industrial action if the dialogue
with the government failed to achieve the desired
result.
Shedding light on the issues at stake, Idris said that
the state government had not implemented the
Universities Miscellaneous Provision Act 2012 in
LASU.
“This law was passed by the Federal Republic of
Nigeria for effective running of universities and we
were part of ASUU /FG 2009 agreement.
“One of the provisions of the agreement is that
academic staff on professional cadre shall retire at
age 70 and non-academic staff at 65.
“It also says that principal officers shall serve for a
single term of five years,” he said.
Idris said that the state government had, during a
deliberation with the institution’s four unions on Dec.
31, 2010, promised to implement the agreement but
failed to do so.
According to him, the government also made some
promises to the union at a meeting held on Nov. 29
but has yet to keep them.
“The union had consistently called on all the
stakeholders of the institution to intervene and
resolve the pending issues in LASU during the five
and a half months ASUU strike,” he said.
Idris also urged the government to review the tuition
fees in the university, noting that it had become the
most expensive public university in Nigeria, making
it unattractive to applicants.
“The 1416 candidates who applied for the
2013/2014 Post-UTME used to be just two arms of
the accounting department when the fees were
N25,000.
“There is an assurance that the number of
candidates short-listed for admission will drop
when some of them finally know the total amount
they will be paying.
“It is exorbitant for a student in the faculty of
education to pay N197,000 while other departments
pay N250,000 and the medical students pay
N350,000.
“The founding fathers meant that education should
be made available and affordable to all citizens of
Nigeria especially indigenes of Lagos State but the
current school fees has defeated that objective,” he
said.
Idris noted that the Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria Universities (SSANU), LASU chapter had
been on strike since Sept. 29, while the non-
academic staff suspended theirs on Dec. 3. (NAN)