Nigerian university reacts to declaration of strike by ASUU

The authorities at the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) have reacted to the declaration of an indefinite strike by the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the campus.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, a professor, said academic and administrative activities will continue undeterred on its campuses despite the position taken by the union.

Mr Na’Allah stated this at a meeting with members of the management of the institution including the provost, deans, directors, and heads of academic departments.

According to a statement by the university spokesperson, Habib Yakoob, Mr Na’Allah described the strike as ‘divisive and unnecessary’, even as he vowed that the management of the institution would never allow the strike to cripple activities on the campus.

“As far as the management of the university is concerned, this institution is not on strike,” he was quoted as saying.

“Some people said they have declared a strike but all of us with the management have decided that our normal activities in the university must go on. Our examination is going on, senate meetings will continue, everything we do as a university will continue, and our calendar will not be disrupted by the grace of God, any longer.”

Strike

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the ASUU chairperson on the campus, Sylvanus Ugoh, declared an indefinite strike on Thursday after accusing the university management of violating its establishment laws, including appointments and promotions without a governing council.

The strike has however divided the union as some members led by Umar Kari and Mohammed Yisa, opposed the union’s decision, accusing Mr Ugoh of acting in bad faith.

In justifying the strike action, Mr Ugoh accused the university management of taking decisions specifically reserved for the governing council even when there is none. He said the advertisement for the position of vice-chancellor to succeed the incumbent, Mr Na’Allah, is illegal, insisting that it negates the Establishment Act of the university. He also accused the university management of recruiting and promoting staff without following due process.

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ASUU-UniAbuja also accused the current management of the university of shortchanging ASUU in the establishment of the UniAbuja Microfinance Bank.

Vice-Chancellor speaks

Mr Na’Allah denied all the allegations labelled against the school management by the lecturers’ union. He insisted that the issues listed by the union are merely sentimental, adding that some of them have been resolved during dialogues.

For the advertorial for the position of a vice-chancellor, he said it was placed by the Minister of Education.

“All I did as vice-chancellor was to request for what is next and they decided this is what we must do. And if you look at the advertisement from the beginning, this fact is very clear. It is only that they had to send it to us for execution, that’s all,” he said.

He also described the union’s allegations of illegal recruitment, promotion, delay in the election of deanship, and microfinance bank establishment as unfounded, saying that the university had followed due process in all of these matters, and ensured that relevant institutions concerned with oversights were contacted.

Speaking to the election of deans and establishment of microfinance bank, he noted that the elections timetable had long been publicised and that four elections of deans had been conducted so far.

He noted that the university management had invested over N200 million in the proposed microfinance bank as against ASUU’s N4 million, before the union wrote directly to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) asking the bank not to grant the licence for operation.

“The bank is purely a business outfit and a service to our local and indigenous community, including market men and women, farmers, small and middle scale business people,” he said.

The vice-chancellor added that his administration had been working hard to develop the university and would not fold its arms and allow a group of people to destabilise its calendar.

“For over four years, our goal has been to lift this university much higher than it was, and this we have succeeded in doing by taking our academic and infrastructural developments to a world-class level, developing an integrated portal that ensured transparency and ease of accessing results, branding of the university, introduction of foreign languages, introduction of new faculties and several departments, among numerous achievements,” the VC said.