The Joint Action Congress(JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the University of Ibadan (UI), have insisted that the ongoing process of appointing the next Vice Chancellor of the university should be nullified.
Addressing a congress of both unions on Monday, the Chairman of SSANU Comrade Wale Akinremi, said the unions stand by their earlier decision on the process.
He said the process was fraught with irregularities, urging the University’s Council to start the process afresh and give all the aspirants a level playing ground.
He said:”The issue of appointment of Vice Chancellor is on for now, members are only talking about following the procedure. We have made our position known.
“It is our university, the essence is not to cause chaos, it is just to point out the observed anomalies and that was what led to the suspension of the process. We are not going to appoint the Vice Chancellor, the council is saddled with the responsibility and we do not have the right to take that responsibility away from them.
“But as Nigerians, as workers here and as taxpayers in this country, we also have a responsibility to tell them when we notice anomalies because before you know it, you’ll be laying bad precedence. We have given that to them, we also have superiors, so whatever they come out with, we are here. We are going to work with whoever becomes the Vice Chancellor, we won’t do more than we have done but posterity will judge us. We are at a point where we needed to make things clear and we did not shy away from our responsibility.”
Akinremi, who said the unions do not have the right to stop anyone that is qualified from applying for the position, noted that : “The position of JAC is that they should start that process afresh.”
He added: ” We cannot be a judge in our own rule. We cannot be accusing the council of an anomaly and we will also be doing the same thing. We have written our petition, we have sent it to the places it should go to.We are waiting for whatever becomes of our observation.
“No matter how emotional you are, this is a civilised society, there is still the procedure. There are places we should send our petitions to, we have done that. When the result comes out, we are going to see what becomes of the situation.
“Our own is what we have observed and we believe this is the position but it is another thing when the other party tables their own, posterity will judge us that at the right time, we did the right thing.”
Also, the Chairman of NASU, Etim Malachi said the unions will not back down from their demands, adding that it is hightime they start speaking up as stakeholders in the institution.
Contributing, the South West Vice Chairman of SSANU, Comrade Alfred Jimoh, commended and appreciated the leadership and followership of the two unions. He said it is unfortunate that some people are behaving the way were in the university.
“I read what was claimed to be written by ASUU and my response on it was I hope it is a fake news because this is an era of fake news. Nobody on this campus except those that have been benefiting from the misrule and insensitivity of this administration to the welfare of workers will support them.i don’t think any ordinary staff will say they have enjoyed during the five year rule of Prof. Olayinka except for those people who are benefiting from it.
“If that VC now wants to impose another person on us and somebody is saying we dont have a right to query the process that isn’t transparent and an imposition, then that person is saying we are not human beings and we are not stakeholders in the system,” he said.
Jimoh urged members to remain resolute saying “nothing will happen to anyone of us.”
Members of the two unions vowed to continue their 10-month old strike, insisting that all the outstanding arrears must be paid to the last kobo before they will go back to work.
