OOU Gate
After a four hour closed door Congress of the Academic staff Union of university(ASUU) Olabisi Onabanjo University Branch, the chairman, Dr. Deji Agboola, granted an interview with DOTUN ADEBUSOYE of OOUVANGUARD, saying the present Ogun State Government is not committed to education in the state.
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OV: On the lingering issue of non-payment of salaries and other entitlements, what were the steps taken before to see that these outstanding debts are paid?
Dr Agboola: Over the years in the school we find it difficult to meet up with challenges that are confronting both our students as well as our environment by which we deliver our lectures. You remember that before 2013 the university joined other comrades at the national level to embark on a national strike. While the national strike occurred between july 10, 2013 and lasted for six months till december of that year. What we advised him that time is that we want an improvement in the environment where we are teaching our students, that forced the Federal Government to bring out money for the development of all universities in Nigeria including OOU.If you go round today you would see the high impact intervention building and test fund building. We are not bringing money into our university and we responded by telling him at that particular time that we don't want to destroy the university, we only make agitation and we had lot of struggle that was what forced you in and he made promises at the meeting that he's going to fund the university very well, he is going to bring in billions of naira as soon as he have confidence in people who are running the school. Two years after the constitution of the new council we asked the council where is the money the government promised us or is it that he doesn't have confidence in you as well or what is the problem and they replied that they are trying their best to catch up with him so that he can do what is expected of him. Again, we met him last year April, at that meeting he told us to go and think outside the box and the implication of this is very glaring that when you divert money that should be use for buying chemicals, reagents, to buy books to your library, microscopes, for field trips, industrial training e.t.c to pay salary how are you going to be trained well, that is unfair, he is not been fair to the society and what we keep telling him is that if one of his cardinal programme is education he should fund the education sector very well because if the university is not been funded well there is no way we can have the university of our dream. At the level of the university if you are doing alternative to practical what will you go and teach at secondary or primary school if you have not seen the chemicals before. These are things we have been telling him that this is not how to fund education, you have to fund education well. Education has to be where it suppose to be. We have written several letters to him, we've met council, we have also met him three times, also 3rd of august this year we met him and he promised that once he have money he would see to the demands of the school. One of the principle of the union is that education should be available for the masses of this nation. Where he is pushing the university to now, he want the university to increase your school fees because when he said we should go and think outside the box, he wants the university and other tertiary institution in the state to start funding themselves and the only thing they know how to do if you are comparing the public university with the private is to increase fees. Your parents are already been over-burdened they task you beyond limitation where are they going to get the extra money when they are paid 18 thousand minimum wage, how do you expect them to start paying school fees ranging to millions of naira. It shows that majority of us will remain poor. We won't be able to afford the education been talked about and a lot of people will continue to die because if you are going to study medicine you would have to go look for millions of naira and so these people that are well intelligent among you will not be able to do medicine, law and other programmes.
OV: Any ultimatum given so far to the State Government?
Dr Agboola: This war started in 2011 and this is 2015. We gave him 21 days ultimatum which he responded by calling us 2 days to the expiration date and that day the commissioner had no solution to our demands. Just to show you that the union is not interested in any strike we are extending it again for another 7 working days starting from 24th of November, 2015 and at the expiration of the 7 days the congress would meet on the next line of action.
OV: It was also said that the State Government has neglected the school. Apart from non-payment of salaries and the likes what other area of neglect are you talking about Sir?
Dr Agboola: Our colleagues that are in the faculty of education that are suppose to teach you if they are not privilege to reagents, laboratories to teach you what will you teach others when posted to serve in both secondary and primary school. But if you look at the philosophy of Olabisi Onabanjo himself when he founded this university he said the people who will get out of the university would be omoluabi and you can only be an omoluabi if you have everything that you needed to be. As i speak to you now 15 months of our subventions are still hanging yet you call the heads of tertiary institutions and you told them that they should go and look for ways to run the university on their own. We are fighting for you people because we know you are going to take over from us tomorrow and whatever we do and when you take over from us I will be very sure that when my children come to the university you people would be able to take care of them but if you are not well trained there is no way we can take care of you and there is no way you can take care of my children and then my future is at stake, that is the basis of this struggle we are not interesting in just shutting down the university. Our interest is to appeal to him to have a change of heart so that the university can move forward so that we can have a university of our dream and a university we can call our own, that you would be proud that you are a product of the university. The fight is not about what to eat but about the university and we hold it a duty for good people of Ogun State to make sure that this university is what we can be proud of.
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OV: The fear of strike in the minds of OOUITES is no doubt strong. Do you see this leading to strike action?
Dr Agboola: According to the principle of this union, we cannot embark on any action without following due process. We have sent so many letters to the Governor. On June 27, 2011 we made this position cleare to him. In 2013 just before the strike we also communicated the same thing we did to the council to his office. In April 2014 we met him, he knows all these things am talking about, am quoting dates now, On August 3rd, 2015 we met him again and so he cannot claim ignorance of what we are talking about and to cap it all, last week Wednesday, the commissioner for education met us on the order of the visitor and we actually asked her that she does not have any role to play in meeting us and she said she was being sent by the visitor to discuss with us. So the visitor actually have the whole picture of what we are talking about behold he said there is no money. During this year convocation ceremony the Governor came and commissioned projects he knows nothing about. But he can take money to return people to construction sites. Your education is not important to him. Recently he was given a bail-out fund from the Federal Government, but he doesn't look at us. Just to show you that the union is not interested in any strike we are extending it again for another 7 working days starting from 24th of November, 2015 and at the expiration of the 7 days the congress would meet on the next line of action.
*Thank you for your time sir
Source: OOUVanguard
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