BREAKING ASUU ?

A handful of university managements seems to be having enough of the over four months old ASUU strike and are taking steps at breaking the ranks of their university's ASUU members.

This has become obvious following calls for resumption of academic activities by at least three (3) university managements, which has largely been heeded by both lecturers and students. In all instances of call for resumption, hardline ASUU members of the respective universities have condemn their management's action to unilaterally call-off their ASUU chapter's strike without regards for and permission of the union's National Executive Council.

 

At Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, where the management called off the lingering ASUU strike with an alleged support of "70%" of the university's lecturers, the ASUU Chairman Dr. Aliyu Badeggi described the directive of Vice Chancellor Prof Ibrahim Kolo as mischievous. He said there was no decision on the strike from the NEC and there is no way IBBU would pull out of the action it was a party to.

 

He was quoted as saying “How can IBBU pull out of the strike when the NEC has not ordered it should be called off? You should have known that the Vice Chancellor is being mischievous and playing to the gallery. There is no final decision on resumption because we voted to be part of the strike and we will remain a party to the action, until NEC meeting decides we should resume. So, don’t believe what the management has said; IBBU is in full strike.”

 

Just like his counterpart at IBB University, Prof. Gab Agu, the ASUU chairman of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) also protest the call for resumption by the university management. A statement by Prof. Agu, in Enugu on Sunday read :

"The union's attention was drawn to the announcement by authorities that students would resume academic activities on Monday. The academic staff of ESUT dissociates itself from the above announcement. While ASUU-ESUT mourns the demise of Prof. Festus Iyayi, a former President of ASUU, it awaits the directive of the NEC on the ongoing strike.”

At both universities, academic activities appear to have largely  commenced, though, lecturers flaunting their union's order are being queried by their respective union's chapter. At ESUT, four professors spearheading the management's interest for an end to the strike were queried by the chapter's executive. According to the chairman :

 

“Four professors are involved and we have issued them with queries and when they reply, we know the next action to take. We are forwarding the query to ASUU national, so that next time people should not arrogate to themselves what is not their duty. Nobody sent them. They don’t have the mandate of ASUU.”

Also following in the steps of ESUT and IBBU is the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko
(AAUA) in Ondo State which also recently announce a resumption date for its students in effect, pulling out of the nationwide strike of ASUU. In a statement issued and signed by its Registrar, R.B Olotu, the school ordered its students to resume for the second semester on November 25th, 2013.
The statement reads :

“All Students of AAUA are hereby informed that academic activities of the 2nd semester of 2012/2013 session truncated as a result of the ASUU national strike are to resume on Monday, 25th November, 2013 with the continuation of registration on the University portal, while lectures are to start on Mon, 2nd December, 2013."

Its yet unknown how many more universities will for suits in the near future as the strike appears to be unending.