Dismissed Lecturers: ASUU reaffirms sanctions on LASU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reaffirmed its earlier sanction on academic collaborations with the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.

ASUU announced this at the end of a meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) held at the University of Ibadan on 17 and 18 August.

The council resolved that until five of its members “wrongfully” sacked by LASU are recalled, its members should stop “sabbatical leave, visitation, part-time lectureship, external examinations, external assessments, conferences, workshops, research collaborations/visitations, etc. to and from LASU.”

The council said it would continue supporting the sacked lecturers until they are reinstated. It ordered its branch at the university to furnish the National Secretariat of the council “with a comprehensive, up-to-date report on the issue.

Following the council’s resolution, the National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement of 21 August, called on the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to reinstate the lecturers who were “unjustly” dismissed in 2019.

Mr Osodeke said he was “deeply disappointed with the Lagos State government’s refusal to release the White Paper on the visitation panel to LASU more than two years after the exercise.

“The seeming conspiracy of silence on this matter is unbecoming of a democratically elected government,” ASUU said in the statement signed by Mr Osodeke.
“We therefore call on the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to redeem his pledge to do the right thing at LASU and ensure the recall of our unjustly sacked colleagues,” he added.

“Wrongfully dismissed”

The dismissed lecturers were ASUU officials. They are Isaac Akinloye Oyewumi (ASUU chairperson); Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu (Vice Chairman); Anthony Dansu (Secretary); Adeolu Oluwaseyi Oyekan (Assistant Secretary); and Oluwakemi Adebisi Aboderin-Shonibare (Treasurer).

They were accused of unauthorised removal, retention and dissemination or publication of official confidential documents and subsequently sacked.

In February 2022, the David Sunmoni-led governing council of the university reinstated the lecturers after an Appeal Committee headed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Adenike Boyo, cleared them of all offences and recommended their reinstatement.

But in a strange move, 48 hours after the governing council approved the recommendation, the same governing council ruled to put the recall of the lecturers on hold.
The state government has yet to reinstate the lecturers more than two years later.

In May, some residents of Ikoga-Zebbe in Badagry Local Government Area, the hometown of Mr Dansu, one of the dismissed lecturers, protested to appeal to the state government to recall the sacked lecturers. In July, they also issued a press statement to drive home their demand, but the government has ignored their appeal.

Other resolutions

Similarly, ASUU said it was displeased with the unwillingness of university Visitors to resolve the “unending” management crises and victimisation in public universities such as the Kogi State University, Ebonyi State University, Lagos State University, Ambroise Alli University, Federal University of Technology Owerri, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University.

“In these and other universities, our members are being victimised through such avenues as illegal termination of appointments, withholding of Salaries, and denial of promotion,” the union’s president, Mr Osodeke, said.

During its meeting, the ASUU NEC decried the poor funding of universities and education. Mr Osodeke said it was concerning that the national budgetary allocation to education has remained under 10 per cent instead of the 15-20 per cent funding the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) recommended for developing nations.

“The consequences are there for all to see: our universities can no longer provide basic services such as uninterrupted power supply, piped water, and maintenance of clean surroundings to their communities,” he said.

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The union then condemned in “strong terms the seeming refusal of Federal and State governments to decisively address all outstanding issues, such as poor funding of universities, the termination of the ASUU 2009 agreement with the federal government and the refusal of the government to move the salaries of many of its members from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which union described as “fraudulent.”

Therefore, the Union resolved to give the government a 21-day ultimatum to address all outstanding issues. It will reconvene at the expiration of the 21-day notice to take appropriate decisions as necessary.