By Adesina Wahab
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said it will picket and shut down Lagos State-owned universities over the refusal of the state government, the owner of the institution, to implement the FGN-ASUU 2025 Agreement.
The affected institutions are the Lagos State University, LASU, the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, LASUSTECH and the Lagos State University of Education, LASUED.
Briefing the press at LASUSTECH Main Campus in Ikorodu, on Thursday, the Lagos Zonal Chairman of ASUU, Prof. Adesola Nassir, said it was unbecoming of the state government to lag in the implementation of the agreement.
He added that after many letters were written to the state government, ASUU members in those institutions would no longer tolerate the seeming neglect by the state government and would take the next line of action.
“We are giving this warning ahead so that there won’t be any allegation that some persons are the ones sponsoring ASUU members to demand their rights. The non-implementation of the Agreement being experienced by our members has left academic staff in the Lagos State-owned universities feeling neglected, undervalued, and increasingly uncertain about the government’s commitment to their welfare.
“You would recall that our union engaged the Federal Government in eight tortuous years of renegotiation of the FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement, culminating eventually in the signing of the ASUU-FGN 2025 Agreement. To ensure that all stakeholders were carried along, the Federal Government Team comprised Pro-Chancellors of Federal and State Universities, in addition to representatives of other government agencies.
“By this arrangement, we therefore believed that the implementation of the Agreement would be seamless, such that the disruption in academic calendars, occasioned by union strikes over non-implementation, would be avoided. To our utter disappointment, the Lagos State Government appears to be playing the ostrich on this matter. Six months of interaction with some representatives of the Lagos State Government have not produced any concrete results,” he stated.
He asked whether the Lagos State Government is opposed to the welfare of its employees.
“For a state that proudly bears the slogan ‘Centre of Excellence,’ its managers, from the governor to the foot soldiers, know that excellence is sustained by people, particularly by those who create knowledge, educate professionals, conduct research, and shape future leaders. No government can legitimately claim excellence while the intellectual workforce responsible for producing excellence experiences prolonged uncertainty over agreed welfare commitments,” he said.
He added that the staff of the affected institutions are becoming despondent because they are being denied their dues.
The ASUU zonal chairman noted that other states have implemented the agreement, leaving Lagos as the odd one out.
“Our perception is that Lagos State is now more than before synonymous with delayed attention to legitimate staff welfare and this has become a recurring feature rather than an isolated occurrence. We are also disturbed by the lackadaisical manner in which local staff crises and cries in LASU and LASUED is being handled.
“ASUU remains committed to constructive engagement. But we would not allow any state to trivialise our committed struggle to improve the lot of our universities in producing high-quality graduates that would power societal development at state and national levels. Nigerians are aware that our union does not seek confrontation for its own sake. Industrial peace is built not upon an arrogant refusal to implement an agreement borne out of collective engagement.
“On this matter, our union has written to state governments that own universities, inclusive of Lagos State, through the Vice Chancellors. We are also aware of communications to the universities by the Executive Secretary of NUC. Without doubt, you would have been aware of the decision of various state universities in the country to shut down over non-implementation of the FGN-ASUU 2025 Agreement. Our union is giving full backing to this movement,” he said.
