9th March, 2016
GBENRO ADESINA/IBADAN
Barely a month after the non-academic unions of the University of Ibadan, UI, protested and paralyzed all activities over some allowances the institution owes the staff, there is a strong indication that they have concluded plans to embark on another protest over nonpayment of some allowances.
The non-academic unions in the institutions are: Senior Staff Association of Universities, SSAU, Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU, and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
Investigations revealed that the unions’ executives have mobilized their members for what they called a congress to be held Wednesday.
In the invitation they sent out through different means, they said, “Aluta Continua”.
Investigations revealed that they had concluded arrangements to close all the gates leading to the institution thereby disallowing anyone from gaining entrance into the institution.
They are also poised to ensure that no academic activity takes place until their demands are met.
If the protest is not averted, the matriculation ceremony of the institution slated for Thursday, 10 March, 2016 might not hold.
The unions have been fighting the new management of the institution led by the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka over shortfall in their monthly pay package.
Whenever the non-academic staff of the institution embark on protest, they throw caution to the wind and take laws into their hands by attacking the academic staff who are not their members and flogging some teaching staff and sending them out of the classrooms.
About two weeks ago, the premier institution decried the reduction in the Federal Government allocation to the institution and appealed to its staff to bear with the situation as it will improve as soon as the budget is passed.
In several meetings held with the unions on campus, the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka discussed the financial status of the institution with the staff appealing that they should be patient with him as all the backlog being owed would be paid as soon as the allocation to the institution is normalized.
A lecturer who spoke with our correspondent under anonymity said, “Anybody that feels aggrieved with the system can go on demonstration or do whatever he or she likes to make his or her grievance known but the act of non-academic staff attacking the academic staff should stop henceforth. If it continues, and the authority refuses to do anything, it will get to a situation where serious clash that can lead to anything will happen. I want to appeal to the authority to ensure that this madness stop.”