From: Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Calabar zone, has lashed out at Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State over the alleged proscription of the union in Kogi State University.
The ASUU described the governor’s action as ‘an executive recklessness’.
A statement made available to newsmen, in Calabar, Cross River State, on Tuesday, and signed by the zonal coordinator of the union, Prof. Nsing Ogar, and seven other chairmen of the universities in the zone, described the action of the governor as capable of throwing the education system into crisis.
According to the release, the termination of appointment of about 135 lecturers by the governor and the non-payment of workers’ salaries are a reflection of state’s failure, and appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to rein in on the governor.
The statement said: “We had expected the governor to hearken to the numerous calls from well meaning Nigerians and take the honourable path of maturely engaging the intellectual workers by addressing their legitimate concerns.
“However, Yahaya Bello regrettably doubled down on his depressive approach by terminating the appointment of 135 academic staff-apparently an unprecedented sack of gubernatorial recklessness.”
Describing the action of the governor as a monumental injustice and scotch-earth tactics, ASUU warned that the situation was capable of creating crisis in a sector which governments all over the world were willing to invest more in.
Equally decrying the onslaught against the union members by Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Lanre Adigun Fagbohun, the union leaders said such war of attrition against its would rather aggravate the crisis than resolving it.
“With members of the union, saying from information at its it further said: “We can see that the Vice Chancellor is out to punish the lecturers. The latest in the Vice Chancellor’s onslaught is the purported dismissal of the Chairman, Vice Chairman and their strong members of ASUU LASU on spurious charges.”
The union recalled that the branch chairman of ASUU in the university, Dr. Isaac Akinloye Oyewumi, was framed up “for the simple reason that the union is taking a principled position against the excesses of the management of the institution and brazen violation of the rules.”
ASUU, therefore, appealed to prominent Nigerians to intervene in the situation as the education system in the country does not need crisis it is currently undergoing
