Posted by By Pascal Nzereogu on
LAGOS - ACADEMIC activities at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education have been paralysed following an industrial action embarked upon by the Non Academic Staff Union and Associated Institution (NASU).
LAGOS - ACADEMIC activities at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education have been paralysed following an industrial action embarked upon by the Non Academic Staff Union and Associated Institution (NASU).
The NASU branch of AOCOED on Monday commenced a three day warning strike to protest the allege illegal composition of the Governing Council of the institution, and threatened to embark on indefinite strike after one week should the authorities fail to address their grievance.
Preceding the strike the union was alleged to have Thursday last week held the Acting Registrar of the school, Mr Adetayo Adegboyega hostage for several hours on his way to attend a meeting of the Governing Council.
Addressing the protesting workers, the chairman of NASU, Mr Erinle Ahmed Adekunle said, they were fighting a just cause which they will never give up on.
According to him, "We will never allow any serving officer from LASU or anywhere to rule us again. The edict says the chairman of Council must not be a serving officer. In time past we have allowed people from LASU to be chairmen, thinking that as people from a sister institution they will help to improve our plight. But, they have failed us and we will never sleep again on our right. We believe our able governor had been mis-informed by the people in the Education sector, that was why he appointed Prof. Olasupo. We want to use this opportunity to call on our able governor, Asiwaju Tinubu to intervene in the issue".
Speaking on the alleged holding of the Acting Registrar hostage, the NASU chairman said, it was because the Acting Registrar wanted to dishonour the call to address the union congress.
He said, "We sent a letter to him inviting him to address the congress, because the union is under the registry. On the day of the congress, we went to him asking him to come and address the congress. We were shocked when he told use he can't come because he is going to Alausa to attend the Council meeting. We asked him to show us the letter inviting him for the council meeting, he brought out a paper with the letter heading of Prof. Olasupo.
, the inaugurated chairman of the council and signed by Prof. Olasupo. Which ought not to be. It was at this point we locked his car and ordered his driver which is member of the union to go to the congress venue. We also directed the gate-man not to allow him exit the gate for any reason. That was all we did, we didn't molest him".
Reacting to his hostage, the Acting Registrar described it as "hazard of the profession."
According to him, "What really happened was that on that day I supposed to attend the Council meeting at Alausa by 11 am. You know when your boss calls you for a meeting, you have to show up.
But when another boss insist you must stay behind, you have no choice than to stay behind. I was locked inside the campus not inside any bungalow. It doesn't make sense struggling with a mob so I just had to cooperage with them. I was treated well with due respect. In fact, it was a worthwhile experience because the maturity of the two sides was tested".
He however, declined to comment on the crisis, saying, "as an administrator you should only be seen and not be heard."
Speaking on the crisis the AOCOED Chairman of College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) said, his union had advised the government to adhere to the provisions of the edict for the management of the council.