Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
The administration of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, decided to reopen the university for academic activity today in spite of the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) rigid stance.
This comes six months after ASUU members from the EKSU chapter joined the continuing strike called by university professors to lobby for, among other numerous demands, rapid reform of the nation’s ivory towers.
The university had last week proclaimed its desire to stop the national strike in the institution and had resumed academic work through its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Edward Olanipekun.
As a result, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of ASUU, made a harsh and mocking remark about the institution, labeling it a “quack and irrelevant university.”
The management of the university had risen in defense of the institution in response to the degrading remark and demanded that the ASUU leader withdraw it and offer an apology.
Yesterday, the vice chancellor claimed in Ado Ekiti that the institution’s stakeholders had decided to resume classes.
The decision to resume work and return to normalcy was decided by the stakeholders after considering the impact of the institution’s protracted strike, he said.
Additionally, Mr. Ife Oluwole, the registrar at EKSU, said explicitly that the resumption will have an impact on both current students and those who have just been admitted for the 2021/22 academic session.
The Vice Chancellor and other Principal Officers, Provosts, Deans, Directors, Heads of Departments, Professors, and Officers on grade level 14 and above convened on Sunday, August 21, 2022, to examine the situation in the university, according to Oluwole.
Stakeholders took note of the socioeconomic repercussions of the current staff union strike on other stakeholders (parents, students, alumni, and staff), as well as the parents’ request.
It was also mentioned that the university as well as the students were suffering as a result of the industrial action.
These include: a) an unnecessarily extended academic year and student stay on campus; poor support from applicants seeking admission to the university; and staff members’ incapacity to pay their salaries on time.
The inability to pay staff salaries is one of the negative outcomes.
After lengthy discussion, the meeting’s attendees came to the conclusion that it is now essential for all university staff members who are now on strike to resume their regular official duties in the interest of the university’s teeming student population, their parents, and themselves.
As a result, all parties involved agreed that the university management should reopen it as soon as possible so that academic operations can resume.
The screening, registration, and orientation processes should therefore continue on Monday, August 29, 2022 for all newly admitted students for the 2021–2022 academic session.
