Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Chapter, are complying fully with the ongoing “one-month warning strike“ declared by their national body.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no academic activity is taking place in the university as classrooms, lecturers and departmental offices are all under lock and key. However, the hostels are still open as students have yet to vacate them.
Miss Ifunanya Okoye, Vice President, NAU Students Union, told NAN that no academic activity was going on in the university.
Okoye said the matriculation ceremony, earlier fixed for early March, has been postponed while final year students were stuck as lecturers were not working on their results.
She, however, pointed out the NAU-SUG was fully in support of ASUU, calling on the Federal Government to address the perennial challenges bedevilling the nation’s universities.
According to the SUG leader, “we are not comfortable with it, but there is nothing we can do about it. ASUU members are not just our lecturers, they are our parents, uncles, aunties and whatever affects them also affects us.”
“Our appeal is that Federal Government should resolve this issue once and for all; for a four-year programme, we spend six years. These strikes encourage idleness which is the reason for crimes, drug abuse and security challenges in the country.”
“We want the Federal Government to listen to ASUU… NAU SUG is with ASUU and we will not join in any anti-ASUU strike,” she said.
Also speaking, Dr Steve Ufoaroh, Chairman ASUU-NAU, said the university was on total shutdown and had set up a strong monitoring team to enforce it in the institution, pointing out that members were not allowed to access their offices.
Ufoaroh said lectures, workshops, students, production of results and orientation programmes for freshmen had all been put on hold in compliance with the industrial action.
He said the decision of whether the school hostels should be shut was that of management but advised that students should be told to vacate for security purposes since there was no academic activity.
“Any academic programme that involves our members have been suspended and you know it is a rolling strike. At the end of the one-month warning strike, if nothing changes, it will continue,” he said.
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