The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Ibadan Zone has described the plan by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka to conduct the institution’s 2020 convocation and foundation ceremonies as divisive and mischievous at a time when members were still on strike.
The union said the institution’s ASUU is still of the opinion the ongoing strike embarked upon the national body of ASUU is total and comprehensive.
Zonal Coordinator of the Union, Professor Ade Adejumo, in a statement on Thursday, disclosed that the stand of the Vice-Chancellor was a strategy to create acrimony among members of the union at the University of Ibadan.
He, however, applauded the position of the institution’s branch of ASUU, with its release entitled ‘Boycott of UI 2020 Convocation and 72nd Foundation Day Ceremonies.’
Adejumo said as a united body, members of the union are currently struggling to reposition and revitalise the public universities to make them competitive universally.
He maintained that the Vice-Chancellor did not ask for a waiver to be granted by the Union, to conduct the convocation, implying that the outgoing VC was trying to break the strike.
“In the spirit of the current ASUU strike, holding convocation ceremonies at this time would be a violation of the principle of the ongoing strike, as we consider that such a move can only at best compromise the few gains of the current struggle to rescue public university education in Nigeria.
“The zone is equally persuaded that there was no request for a waiver for such to take place in the University of Ibadan, and none was requested by the University of Ibadan Administration.
“No waiver has been granted for any Convocation ceremony during the ongoing strike action.
“The decision of UI Vice-Chancellor to conduct the Convocation at this period is mischievous, obnoxious and divisive.
“It is calculated to create confusion and acrimony among the members of the union in UI.
“The VC is poised to break the strike in order to promote his selfish and personal interest since he has just a few weeks to leave office,” Adejumo states.
Meanwhile, it has been gathered that Professor Ezekiel Ayoola, one of the institution’s VC selection committee members, had mistakenly sent a short message to Professor Ayodele of the Ecotourism department, instead of Professor Ayodele, the Dean of Science.
This message, which has gone viral within the university community and on social media, was sent on Wednesday, October 28, the day the shortlisted six Vice-Chancellor candidates were to be interviewed by a five-member panel in which he (Professor Ayoola) is a member.
The short message read: “We thank God, my Dean. We can see that God already answered our prayers. It shall be permanent. Greetings to Adebowale, our wonderful candidate. His papers/application is second to none. We shall celebrate today. Regards.”
The message revealed that Professor Adebowale had been anointed by powers that be at the institution to become the next vice-chancellor.
But for the protest by members of the Joint Action Committees of SSANU and NASU on the day of the interview, who insisted on due process in the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor, the panel would have appointed Professor Adebowale as the new Vice-Chancellor.
It was further gathered that even the outgoing Vice-Chancellor too sent another text to DVC Academic, (Ekanola) in which he wrote that “That Registrar is incompetent, a fool and idiot, but we dealt with her.”
This is because the Registrar called the attention of the Council members to the role of the Representative of the Federal Ministry of Education, that her role should be that of an observer, as against a member of the five-man panel which the council rejected under the Chairman, Joshua Waklek.
Though she is a member of the council, the argument was that she was representing the supervising Ministry, and should as a matter of decency, watch proceedings so that she could write a detailed and unbiased report to the Ministry.
As it is now, the unions are awaiting the response of the Ministry of Education to its petitions, as well as from the council.
