The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) has finally suspended its four-months-long strike after a meeting with its members at the university’s main campus in Ogbomoso on Tuesday.
This will be the second time the academic staff union will be suspending its strike which, in sum, has spanned, at least, two years.
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The Secretary of ASUU LAUTECH Dr. Abegunrin, corroborated by the union’s Zonal Coordinator Dr. Ade Adejumo, confirmed that the strike had been suspended with immediate effect but academic activities will kick off on Monday, October 23.
“The zone will have to be briefed, national will have to be briefed, but the Congress has suspended the strike in principle as from today but full lectures will resume on Monday,” Dr. Adejumo said. “Skeletal things will continue, preparatory to the commencement of full academic activities on Monday.”
The suspension is coming following news that the lecturers started receiving their three-months’ salary arrears – one of their demands for resumption – during the weekend.
Over the months, LAUTECH had been riddled with numerous resumption dates which turned out to hold little water. First, the university management widely publicised September 15 and October 3 for reopening the university and resuming academic activities, respectively.
Although the gates of the institution were reopened as scheduled, lectures did not commence as the academic staff union refuted the announcement saying none of their issues had been addressed and that “strike is still in full force.”
With mounting pressure from the agitated students, LAUTECH’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. A.S. Gbadegesin, once again, promised Monday, October 16, as an alternative resumption date. That date also passed, to no avail.
However, the students are confident that this new date by ASUU will stand. Oleghe Enike, a 300 level of the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, reacting to the news said, “I believe we will definitely resume on Monday because, unlike the other dates announced by the school management, this one is coming directly from the body [ASUU] that actually embarked on the strike.”
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