MIMIKO, OKOJIE ASK VC'S TO CURB ASUU STRIKE

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko
Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; and the Executive
Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof, Julius
Okojie, have charged Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities to work...

to put an end to the regime of strikes by university lecturers in the
country.
Mimiko and Okogie spoke at the opening of the 28th Conference of the
Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities on Tuesday in
Akure, the Ondo State capital.
At the conference, stakeholders were united in their conclusion that
all were losers in every given strike action embarked upon by members
of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The conference, hosted by the Federal University of Technology, Akure,
drew participants from the 129 public and private universities in
Nigeria and other organisations, including the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of Nigeria and the National University Commission.
Mimiko, while declaring the conference open, said the state of
university education in the country had been further worsened by the
four-month-old ASUU strike.
The governor said it was time for a re-orientation of the university
lecturers to start appreciating the fact that teaching is both a
profession and a vocation.
He said, "Therefore, teaching should be engaged in only by those with
a special call, who want to impart knowledge to others on the sole
grounds that they are happy doing so and because they believe that
they have a special interest or ability to do so.
"A university teacher should be seen as one who is developing his
students to become future leaders through quality education and high
moral character."
Mimiko noted that the Nigerian universities deserved improved funding
in spite of the overriding challenges of the various sectors of our
polity.
He said that since there was a huge difference between the resources
available to the proprietors of state and federal universities, it was
not just to subject the workers on the two platforms to the same
reward system.
Okojie, who was represented by the visiting professor of the NUC, Prof
Sola Akinrinade, said that the Nigerian University System was facing a
major operational break due to the ongoing industrial action by
members of ASUU.
"The impact of strike actions is significant and they affect not only
students who are our primary product but staff as well," he said.
He appealed to Vice Chancellors to work to ensure that disagreements
between the Federal Government and ASUU were settled as early as
possible before they resulted into total breakdown in the public
university system.