The meeting, which began late Sunday at the University of Abuja’s headquarters of ASUU, ended early Monday morning, with the resolution that the strike be rolled over.
Just as the Federal Government had taken a stand on the side of labour law to choose the ‘no work, no pay policy’, a report by The DEFENDER, among several Nigerian media, on Saturday August 27, had said the problem of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may have escalated beyond just the issue it has with the Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration to several others as its actions have now placed it as fronting for certain unpatriotic interests.
That was as President of the ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, reportedly ridiculed universities that are not on the same page with his union’s prolonged strike action by calling them quacks. Lagos State University, Osun State University and Kwara State University have continued to be in session while Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai had warned that, since ASUU has issues only with Federal Government and not Kaduna State Government, any lecturer that failed to resume work after receiving government salaries would be sacked.
Reacting to his “disgusting” comment, the Vice Chancellor, Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, reportedly described the President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, as a careless talker for saying universities that are not on strike are ‘quacks’.
Professor Adebooye said the state university has 481 full-time academic staff and among them, 387 are full-time Ph.D. holders, “this is not a quack.”
ASUU President, while featuring on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Thursday, called state universities; Osun State University, Kwara State University, Lagos State University and Kwara State University quacks.
According to him, “Kwara State University is not a member of ASUU. Osun State University was suspended from ASUU for misbehaviour. We are in court with LASU (Lagos State University) because they sacked all our executives more than five years ago. They were not part of this struggle.”
The UNIOSUN Vice-Chancellor responded to ASUU’s claim while answering questions from journalists at a press conference on Friday; announcing the approval and accreditation of the institution’s bachelor of medicine bachelor of surgery (MBBS) programme by the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC).
It will be recalled that UNIOSUN started the MBBS programme with the approval of the National Universities Commission in 2012. The programme was discontinued shortly after due to some operational challenges which led to the transfer of the enrolled students to Ukraine by the State Government to complete their programmes.
Professor Adebooye noted that the NMDC not only approved the MBBS programme but also increased the admission quota for the programme from 50d to 100 students.
“Between January and August 2022, our academic members of staff have demonstrated the “can do spirit” in research and they have excelled in this world of stiff but healthy competition for research grants. I am glad to inform you we have six grants amounting to about US$300,000 in the last 8 months,” he said this in his address during.
