ASUU LAUTECH Dares Makinde On Threat To Stop Subvention

The Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says any branch that breaks the strike would lose out on the benefits of the struggle, including infrastructure development.

It said that its members had resolved to forge ahead with the strike and pursue it to a logical conclusion.

The union in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Prof. Biodun Olaniran and Secretary, Prof. Toyin Abegunrin, after their congress, berated Governor Seyi Makinde for his alleged threat to stop payment of subvention until lecturers returned to classrooms.

The ASUU said the government should not see itself or students as the target of the strike but as beneficiaries of the strike as the intervention of most state governments in terms of subvention has been used as part-payment of salaries.

The ASUU leaders said that the commissioner’s claim on subvention had created further distrust between the management and the unions as to who is saying the truth and who is not.

According to LAUTECH ASUU, the responsibility of capital projects has been totally abdicated and surrendered to TETFUND and NEEDS assess projects of ASUU’s struggles.

They further noted that lecturers were very sensitive to the plight of the students but that the government should thank the union for the struggle, which has helped in training its members in human capacity development through TETFund grants.

The statement reads in part: “The congress of ASUU, LAUTECH branch, was held on Tuesday, May 7, 2022. The congress deliberated extensively on the press interview granted to the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology by Fresh FM on Saturday, May 28, 2022, and Governor Seyi Makinde by BCOS on Saturday, June 4, 2022, respectively.

In the interview, the commissioner stated that LAUTECH has been receiving full subvention.

This position is a variant with the submission of the university administration that only about 55 per cent of the subvention is provided by the government while the remaining 45 per cent is sought by the university via internally generated revenue (IGR)…

“… Our union is in the darkness of the true situation of things. Ordinarily, IGR is expected to be used to defray arrears of various allowances owed the workers by the university, but rather, the university administration attributed its inability to defray these outstanding arrears to it having to augment salary with as much as 45 per cent of the monthly subvention to the university. However, the claim by the commissioner has further worsened the distrust of our union on the sincerity of the university administration, believing that the welfare of our members is being toyed with (with a political game).

“In the interview conducted by the BCOS, Makinde stated that the lecturers are insensitive to the plight of the students otherwise; the academic workers of the branch would not have joined the strike. We wish to state here categorically, as we have always done, that the strike is not targeted at any individual or group of individuals or the government of the state. The strike is not about federal or state universities but purely about the university system in Nigeria. The university system is one (as regulated the National University Commission). ASUU too is one. There is only one charter of ASUU with several branches, including the LAUTECH branch.”