ASUU strike: Ex-UniIlorin VC wants NAS, NAL’s intervention

The ASUU strike is in its seventh week.

A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Ishaq Oloyede, on Friday called on the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) and the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) to intervene in the seven-week old ASUU strike.

Mr. Oloyede, who expressed worry about the lingering strike, said the two bodies should not fold their arms and allow the situation to continue.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities had on June 30 declared an indefinite strike in public universities across the country. The lecturers are protesting the non-implementation of their 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.

The founder, National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Babs Animasaun, and other stakeholders had urged the government and ASUU to resolve the matter.

Mr. Oloyede said that “these two academies can no longer afford to watch this development continue since their major obligation is to promote academic activities and the education sector in general.

“I feel the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Nigerian Academy of Science have a lot to do to ensure that the problem is solved once and for all.

“The face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU over the strike is becoming a perennial one.’’

The don, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, said everything should be done to resolve the impasse.

According to Mr. Oloyede, the only way out of the impasse is to go scientific since every other process has failed to work.

“When I say scientific, I mean it is time to sit down as a body of intellectuals and get the issues well thought out in order to arrive at a workable solution,” he said.

Mr. Oloyede, who was recently inducted into the Nigerian Academy of Letters, said the two intellectual bodies owed the country a duty to rise up to the challenge.

(NAN)