Why We Didn’t Join ASUU Strike – UNIOSUN Vice-Chancellor

 

By Yusuf Oketola

THE Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Prof. Odunayo Adebooye, has explained why the institution is not part of the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Adebooye stated that state universities in the country are running a model differ from the federal universities, stating that UNIOSUN is running a 60-40 model.

The 60-40 model, according to him, is whereby the State Government supports the institution with 60 per cent revenue while the school generates the remaining 40 per cent from the school ventures and students’ tuition.

Adebooye stated this while appearing on a private radio station programme on Monday, in Osogbo.

He said: “There are three categories of universities in Nigeria; we have the private, state and the federal universities. There are 179 of them and 79 of these are private, 48 are state and 43 are federal universities. 

“Some of state universities are run by models that differ from the regular federal universities. The first model is where the state carries 100% of the university’s burden, the second model is where the state says, this is the money I have in respect of your requirements, you generate the remaining 40 percent. 

“When you generate the remaining 40 percent, it means you shift the remaining 60 percent to the state and when you do that, it means you generate the 40 per cent from the venture of the university or from the tuition of the students. 

“So, UNIOSUN chose the second model, the 60-40 model. When other schools go on strike, it means that the students are not in school. It therefore means, the 40 percent generate by the students cannot be paid to people who are on strike. 

“If it is 100 per cent state contribution, of course, the governments have a way of being magnanimous. Also, Osun state university implement 100% of the labour law, the labour law states that workers have the right to go on strike. It is the statutory right of the workers to go on strike across the world.

“The same law goes ahead and states that whenever workers go on strike, their salary should not be paid for that period and the numbers of days of strike should be deducted from the record of service of the workers. This is what the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stated. And this is practice in UNIOSUN because of the model we run.

“Government often decide to pay salaries after strike because of magnanimity. That is the fact of the matter. If the law is to be implemented. It is very clear.”

Adebooye also boasted that the institution is doing better than other universities in the country in terms of worker’s welfare. 

He said UNIOSUN do not delay salaries of its workers in the last seven years, saying it has also been paying hazard allowance as and when due.

Speaking further on the ASUU strike, Adebooye noted that the federal government must be alive to its responsibilities, stating that scholarship board should be instituted in all tertiary institutions to assist students in paying tuition fees.

“On the issue of ASUU strike, if government has decided that it will fund university education 100 percent, the government must be alive to its responsibilities. 

“If government decides that they are going to give Universities 80 per cent of what they need and the schools should generate 20 percent, then the universities will design its own model and come up with system by which 20 per cent will be generated”, he said.