From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the University of Ibadan(UI), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) and University of Ilorin (UNILORIN)  have activated strike monitoring teams in the institutions.
The activation of the team came as academic activities have been paralysed on the campuses of the universities because lecturers have continued to prosecute the one-month strike declared by the national body of the union to put pressure on government to sign renegotiated conditions of service for lecturers among other demands.
The strike monitoring teams were separately activated when the three universities in the Ibadan Zone of ASUU held their respectively congresses. The congresses were separately presided over by their chairpersons – Professors Ayo Akiwole (UI), Olaniran Abiodun (LAUTECH) and Moyosore Ajao (UNILORIN), with a resolve to ensure that lecturers would neither teach nor attend any statutory meeting, while the strike lasts.
The chairperson stated that the union felt that rather than going full blown strike, it should, in the interest of the students embark on the one-month warning strike to see if government would have done the needful, saying that failure to do so will ultimately leave the lecturers with no choice than to embark on indefinite strike.
The ASUU chairman, UI, Prof Ayo Akinwole, explained: “the demands of the union include signing of renegotiated agreements, which border on the salaries and conditions of service of lecturers, mainstreaming of earned academic allowances and releasing of white paper report on Federal Government Visitation panel among others.”
The strike monitoring team, according to him, “will ensure total compliance. Our members feel the pain and have shown commitment to the struggle. They know it is for us to fight for our destinies and be better treated after staying on the same conditions of service for 13 years, despite the hardship in the country.
“The same lecturers, who are giving second to nothing still struggle to put the name of Nigeria on global ranking of universities despite poor investment in education by the Federal Government. We have reached a point when we are saying treat us well, give us a new welfare system and sound conditions of service so that our members can live good lives and enjoy the fruit of their labour.”