ItOOU Lecturers Protest Deteriorating Condition of Services

Ifeyinwa Susan Francis

The members of the ASUU, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye(OOU), 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.

The protest was led by Dr Ganiyu Yinusa, chapter Chairperson. The Lecturers admonished President Bola Tinubu to sign the reviewed ASUU agreement.

The agreement was presented by the Ahmed Yayale Committee set up by the present administration.

At the Senate Building, union members were received by key university officials, led by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Prof. Olatundun Oderinde, representing the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ayodeji Johnson Agboola.

Also present were Registrar Dr. Caleb Orukotan, University Librarian Prof. Onifade, and 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.

During the protest, Yinusa told journalists the union aimed to press the government to meet its demands. Especially on lecturers’ working conditions, funding, poor salaries, academic freedom, and university autonomy — all outlined in the collective bargaining agreement ASUU wants signed immediately.

However, the government had revisited the agreement so many times but failed to sign the reviewed document, making its implementation impossible.

He stated that the last time the government signed an agreement with the union was in 2009.