***ASUU HOLDS RALLIES IN ADO EKITI *** MEMBERS of the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), Ekiti State University (EKSU) chapter, on Friday staged rallies in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital and sought the support of eminent Nigerians in its struggle to achieve its objectives. It said at the rally that it was meant to mobilise the traditional rulers and market women against the “recalcitrant posture of the Federal Government” over their demands. The placard-carrying ASUU members led by the Chairman, EKSU chapter, Dr Ayan Adeleke, started the procession at about 8:00 a.m. and moved round Ado Ekiti while being provided with security by officer and men of the Nigeria Police. The protesting ASUU members visited the popular Erekesan Market in the capital city and the palace of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, where they addressed the people. Adeleke, in his address to the market women, said: “We are on a peaceful rally to sensitise the public about our grievances against the Federal Government for not honouring the agreement it freely entered into in 2009. All we ask from them is to implement the agreement. The infrastructure in our universities are bad.” He said what ASUU was fighting for was not salary increment or for non payment of salaries, saying, government was not owing them, but government has failed to provide infrastructure that would make them train competent graduates. “It is now a common experience now that doctors forget surgical blades inside the bowels of patients because they were not trained with adequate infrastructure,” he said. At the market, the ASUU leaders, who addressed the public in Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages, pleaded with the market women to appeal to the Federal Government to rescue varsities from total collapse. At the palace of Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Adeleke said it was disheartening that out of N400 billion agreed on papers to be released to the nation’s universities by the Federal Government, N100 billion was released. Adeleke alleged that instead for the Federal Government to shift ground and embrace peace, it was engaging in campaign of calumny against the union, urging members of the public not to be deceived by Federal Government’s allegation that the union was fighting for increment in salaries. Oba Adejugbe, who described ASUU’s demands as reasonable and apt to the future of the country, urged the academic union to also shift ground and return to negotiation with the Federal Government. The monarch said, “I want to commend your orderliness and civility with the way you carry out your protest. Everybody knows that you are fighting a reasonable course, but you have to shift your ground and return to classrooms in the interest of Nigeria’s future and our future as well. “I want to believe that there should be an end to this strike. It is 4 months now. I would not want a situation whereby the blames will be shifted to you because what we were made to believe was that, you are only fighting for yourselves. And if you allow this strike to drag on, you will end up being blamed. “I plead with you to accept any reasonable offer given to you by the Federal Government. Even I believe that if the government can meet one quarter of your demands, you should return to classrooms and start pressing to other demands. The university is our tomorrow and we must all defend it”
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 11:38:55 +0000
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