Posted by By MODESTUS CHUKWULAKA, Abuja on
University teachers across the country will today begin a week-long warning strike to protest what they described as Federal Government's adamant refusal to reabsorb the 49 lecturers dismissed from the University of Ilorin in 2001.
University teachers across the country will today begin a week-long warning strike to protest what they described as Federal Government's adamant refusal to reabsorb the 49 lecturers dismissed from the University of Ilorin in 2001.
The teachers organized under the umbrella of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said in a statement yesterday that it was embarking on the warning strike because all efforts to get government to make satisfactory progress in reinstating the lecturers had been rebuffed.
'All ASUU branches shall go on one-week warning strike between Monday 18 February 2008 to Friday 22 February 2008," the statement signed by ASUU president, Dr. Abdullahi Sule, said. While calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on government to resolve this problem immediately, ASUU said it would not want another prolonged crisis but warned that should one ensue, it would take the responsibility for it.
It said the dismissal of the 49 lecturers, three of whom, including two professors, have since died was in violation of the non-victimization clause in the June 30, 2001 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU.
'Since 2001, ASUU has put its case before several competent bodies, which established that the sack of the UNILORIN 49 was unlawful and recommended their recall," it said. According to the statement, the negotiation team between ASUU and the government in 2001 had recommended the reinstatement of the teachers on the ground that they were actually on a nationwide strike declared by the union, of which the council of the University of Ilorin was notified. Besides, then Minister of Education, Professor Babalola Borishade, had written to then President Olusegun Obasanjo, advising him to order the recall of the sacked teachers.
ASUU expressed regrets that despite raising the hope of its members that the teachers would be recalled, the present administration had not done anything to convince it that it was minded to recall the teachers.
'We have complained to the Senate and the House of Representatives and to organizations and individuals and sought interventions on this issue. But 49 academics whose knowledge and intellectual skills are needed to develop the university system are suffering from injustice and underserved humiliation. In a twist of democratic values, power is being used to keep the weak suffering rather than to protect them," said ASUU.