By Sultan Quadri
The Chairman of ASUU LASU chapter, Dr. Ibrahim Bakare revealed that the body is not willing to truncate the gains it has recorded over the years in joining the national body's warning strike and agreeing with the recent ASUU National body embargo on the University management.
The chairman who was present at the pre-convocation press briefing in an interview with ACJ addressed the decision of the National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to sanction the management of Lagos State University (LASU) for sacking some of its lecturers who allegedly exposed fraud in the institution.
He claims to have some reservation about their decision but choose to remain calm till now. He said, " There are a lot of impregnated issues. And ASUU National for God sake should be fair and just in the way they address issues.
Quite a number of constitutional breaches, in terms of the way ASUU National has really handled some issues. ASUU National understands that for you to be recognized as members of ASUU LASU you must first be employed by the lagos state university.
That was why I said I never wanted to go beyond that, they should adress that, if truly that is what ordinary should have been done"
He revealed that for several years ASUU National body has abandoned its LASU chapter with their problems and that those that were brought to solve those problems, they never knew the nitty gritty of the problem and that was why those problems lingered for long.
"And because the Congress needed representatives that will really push for cases in terms of promotion of their welfare, negotiating for them locally and outside Lasu.
That was why in the wisdom of the Congress, they felt an election should be conducted so that the gap or lacuna created would not exist for long", he said
Speaking on the fact that the ASUU National body doesn't recognised ASUU-LASU anymore he said, "The issue of recognition is something that needs to be renegotiated with time.
You can not expect ASUU-LASU to actually say they recognized us because of the circumstances at hand but what we are more particular about is the stability of the institution.
Asuu National should have taken this into consideration like I rightly said for a number of years they never developed very pragmatic solutions to tackle the challenges we have locally. As they were investigating and visiting last more and more asuu lasu became more and more broken and people felt enough of that".
When asked if the recent disagreement was the reason for ASUU-LASU not joining the two-week warning strike he said, "Before ASUU-LASU embark on strike in the past they would have reviewed the situation, Congress men and women needed conviction to decide that majority says we should observe the strike".
He noted that, " the situation in lasu today is very fragile, the gains we have recorded in the last four years and some months we do not want to throw them away". He went further to say that there quite a number of issues awaiting attention from the University management as state government that they feel need to genuinely and courteously addressed and breaking that cord of agreement will not do any good to them and he feels that is the point of the majority of the congress decision.
He harped on their commitment to access the situation and really considered the importance of allowing peace to reign here in the light of the welfare needs of it members.
He went further to give instances where the management have been good to them, "The Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) is very Key and critical to the interest to our members because we have been on this issue, right now the EAA is receiving greater attention from the management and we are seeing that they are doing it, we really go there to supervise it within the next five to six days my members in the union would be able to access their entitlements.
Must we now break the cord of peace that will facilitate the preparation of the financial implication of the EAA? Secondly, the minimum wage, the management ensured that our members got their payment, to fast track the payment, we interacted with them. We need to work hand in hand to ensure that it is fully actualised".
He revealed that they are a number of structures that are about to be completed that will also bring robust benefits to members of ASUU-LASU. "must we now truncate that progress?" he questioned.
"You've seen quite a number of things that are happening in the institution. We also have a number of our members who are went for the last interview they are awaiting their letters. Must we now truncate that? " he said.
He emphasized that ASUU-LASU needs to focus, primarily and fundamentally on how to get the needs of members to their tables, that is what we are focused on.
He explained the three fundamental objectives of the current administration, " Number one is peace, which must not be truncated and it is because lasu is peaceful that we have recorded so much good things.
Secondly, the welfare of our member becomes very key, we need to internalize good things of life for our members in LASU before we think at the National. In the past ASUU-LASU always complied when they were doing the needful and the right thing and we realised that for us to really benefit forom the bottom and the top needed to work hand in hand.
"Before we emerged, ASUU National didn't treat us well, the former executive council that was at the National never respected members of the council and the University veterans who ordinarily should have been consulted before they take decisions were not consulted. People were called unpreachable names".
He asserted that, "The rules and the language of engagement were the reasons why members of the congress felt they could no longer follow them.
The reality on ground is that where you are no longer on the payroll of the University it will no longer be ideal to still represent that institution in external capacity, it is illegal. Asuu national should for God's Sake be honest and critical, if not they will lose out finally".
He labeled the embargo placed on the body as a direct attack on all LASU academic staff that they should not go out both for academic engagement and all other academics operating externally should not come.
In his submission he assured that the congress of ASUU LASU will speak soon and he is quite sure at the end of the congress meeting they will come out ventilate all their aggressions.
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