Latest on ASUU strike: Ondo University threatens to pull out from ASUU

As the crisis between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continues unabated, the Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), in Ondo State, Prof. Femi Mimiko today threatened to call his students back to school if the two parties involved fails to resolve before the end of this month.

Mimiko, who spoke with reporters at World Pharmacists Day held in Akure, the State Capital said the management has strategic plans to recall the students back to campus in the next few days.
He stressed that the ongoing ASSU strike had affected the institution’s calendar, which for so many years has remained uninterrupted.

The Vice Chancellor noted that there was an ongoing consultation between the workers and the management on the needs to resume work, if the strike continues. His words, “interruption of academic calendars is one of the problems we face with regards to this strike action. As you all noted, we manage to run the university for the past four years on an uninterrupted calendar. We are particularly concern about this strike because our academic calendar has been affected.

“We are hoping that ASUU will do the needful to call off the strike as speedily as possible. We have come into the conclusion that in our own interest as a state university, we must begin to find a way to bring our students back. So we are hoping that the strike will be called off before the end of the month, otherwise we may begin to take some steps that will enable us bring our students back to the campus.
“Well, we have a blueprint on the table that we are looking at. The important thing is that we are not going to allow our students to remain at home for so long than this. If the strike is not over within a few days, we may call back our workers.
“Already, we are consulting with the lecturers because they are not employees of federal government. We do not have any substantive dispute with our workers on campus, so technically they should not have been on strike in the first instance.
“Though, we are consulting, talking to members and hoping that all of us will drive in the same direction. That is what is our strategic interest as a state university that is funded by the state government and not the federal government”