SSANU, LASU chapter vows to continue strike

Striking Senior Staff Association of Nigerian
Universities, Lagos State University chapter, on
Friday vowed that it would continue strike until
its demands were met.

The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Oseni Saheed,
made this known in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

He said that the union was dissatisfied with the
manner the university’s Governing Council was
handling the strike.

The unionist also said that SSANU was not
satisfied with some policies introduced by the
council.

NAN reports that hundreds of SSANU members
had on Thursday disrupted a meeting of the
governing council with
LASU workers.
LASU’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities was, however, not represented at the
meeting.

Protesting SSANU members had matched from
their secretariat to the university’s new
auditorium where the meeting was being held.
The protesters chanted protest songs and carried
placards with inscriptions such as: “No
organisation can develop with poor staff
welfare’’, “we fight for our rights” and “give us
our promotion.”

Saheed said that the striking workers had been
denied promotion since 2011.
He said that the governing council had not been
responsive, adding that SSANU members could
not be part of the meeting because they were
not in the right frame of mind.

“In the last nine weeks, the union has been on
strike, and nothing was heard from the
governing council.

“The council which is the policy maker of the
institution did not deem it fit to call us for
resolution but today invited us for a meeting on
financial matters.

“This meeting should not be held at a time when
staff are angry and on strike.
“We are staff of the university; we are human
beings and not slaves,” he said.

Saheed also said that the union was unhappy
that the council approved an increase in school
fees from N25, 000 to N380, 000.

“The policy has inflicted pains on students and
staff, as LASU school fees are no longer
affordable for children of the common man,” he
said.

Saheed, however, hailed the state Gov.
Babatunde Fashola for calling the union to a
meeting last week over the strike.

The Chairman of the council, Mr Bode Augusto,
had told the protesters to be calm.
“Are you done? Will you listen to me? If not, you
can leave?” he said.
NAN reports that SSANU and the Non-Academic
Staff Union of Educational and Associated
Institutions (NASU), LASU chapters, had been on
strike since Sept. 30.

NASU, however, suspended its strike on Dec. 3,
following Fashola’s intervention.