Africa Press-Nigeria:
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Wednesday said it will not resume academic activities until its demands for embarking on industrial action are met before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The union added though, it is not opposed to calling for reopening of universities in the country.
However, the union asked Nigerians to “honestly interrogate this position.”
Speaking with reporters in Ilorin, Coordinator, Ibadan zone of ASUU Prof Ade Adejumo said “even if universities are opened today, our strike which was predicated on government’s readiness to honour its memorandum of agreement (MOA) with us continues.
“It is our responsibility to call the government’s attention to its duties to the nation and its citizens, this we have done and there is no
going back.
Ibadan zone of ASUU comprises the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Osun State University (UniOsun), Kwara State University (KWASU), and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
He said that “throwing schools open in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic is an open invitation to a tragic explosion of the scourge on a scale never witnessed anywhere since its outbreak!”
Adejumo noted that there have been agitations from some quarters for the government to re-open schools, especially by proprietors of private universities, saying that the lives of students should not be endangered for pecuniary gains.
“Has the Nigerian government met the NCDC criteria on COVID- 19 protocol in our institutions? Must we endanger the lives of our children for pecuniary gains? Should the primary issue on life and death be used on profit matter? COVID-19 is still very much with us. It is in recognition of this fact that the government itself has rolled out certain conditions to be met before schools are re-opened.
