Olabisi Onabanjo University Lecturers Stage Protest Over Poor Working Conditions

The members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, on Tuesday marched to the Senate Building of the university to protest the deteriorating conditions of service as well as poor funding of the institution.

Led by its chapter Chairperson, Dr. Ganiyu Yinusa, the lecturers called on President Bola Tinubu to sign the reviewed ASUU agreement as presented by the Ahmed Yayale Committee set up by the present administration.

At the Senate Building, the union members were received by the principal officers of the university, led by the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academics, Professor Olatundun Oderinde, who represented the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ayodeji Johnson Agboola. Also present were the Registrar, Dr. Caleb Orukotan, the University Librarian, Prof. Onifade, and the Bursar, Mr. Sowunmi.

During the peaceful protest, the lecturers carried placards with inscriptions such as: “Pay us our entitlement, not unsolicited loans,” “Water cannot replace reagents in our laboratories, do the needful,” and “Enough will be enough when all the necessary positive interventions are made in our public universities,” among others.

Speaking with journalists during the protest, Yinusa said that the action was to further press home the union’s demands from the government, particularly on issues relating to lecturers’ conditions of service, university funding, poor salaries, academic freedom, and university autonomy — all of which are contained in the collective bargaining agreement that ASUU has urged the government to sign without further delay.

He explained that the last time the government signed an agreement with the union was in 2009. Though the government had revisited the agreement at different times, it failed to sign the reviewed document, thereby making its implementation impossible.

Yinusa added: “Under this current administration of President Bola Tinubu, the Mallam Yayale Ahmed Committee was also set up. They have met with our union and we have made considerable progress. Our agreement has been submitted to the government for signing.

“What we are pressing for is that the government should sign this agreement and see to its implementation. The focus of the agreement has to do with our salaries, funding of the university system in terms of revitalisation funds, academic freedom, autonomy, and others.

“During the last strike, our colleagues are still being owed three and a half months’ withheld salaries. The government should pay this money because the job has been done and our members deserve to be paid.

“Instead of the government doing the needful by signing our agreement and beginning its implementation — which will cover enhanced salaries for our members — the government is now launching what it calls the Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund.

“This is like a bait for our members to take loans of up to N10m. We are disassociating our union from this arrangement. The government can give out loans without involving our union, and we have been telling our members not to fall for this move.

“What we are demanding is that, instead of offering loans, the government should pay our members good and competitive salaries comparable to those of other universities in Africa and the rest of the world.

“If the government knows it has this money, why not pay our members well and use such funds to revitalise our universities — build infrastructure, laboratories, provide electricity, good roads, housing for our members, and create an enabling environment for research and community service.

“These are our demands. We are also demanding that during tomorrow’s meeting between the government and our leadership, this issue should be finalised once and for all so that we can avert the looming strike and industrial crisis in the nation’s universities.

“We have done our own part, and we hope the government will also play its part. Enough is enough. The government should stop subjecting our members to penury and sign the Yayale Ahmed agreement once and for all.”

Responding, the Vice Chancellor, represented by his deputy, Prof. Olatundun Oderinde, pledged to deliver the union’s demands to the management of the university.