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• Meeting between Jonathan, union fails to hold
A crack has appeared in the ranks of the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) whose members have been on strike since July as Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU), in Ondo State reopened for academic activities yesterday despite the refusal of the union to call off its four-month-old strike.
Hope that the strike might be called off yesterday did not materialise as the proposed meeting between ASUU and President Goodluck Jonathan that would have heralded the announcement of the suspension of the industrial action did not hold as expected.
EBSU in a statement signed by the school's Registrar, Mr. Sam N. Egwu, said it was reopening for academic activities following the inability of the federal government and ASUU to reach an agreement on the lingering strike.
“Having waited patiently for the federal government and ASUU to resolve the impasse behind the over four months strike embarked upon by the union to no avail, the management of EBSU has resolved to reopen classes for learning to commence on Monday, the 25th day of November, 2013. We therefore inform all concerned that teaching and learning will begin fully on Tuesday, 26th November, 2013.This is to enable us cover what we have lost to the strike.”
A source said the decision to reopen the school followed a meeting held last week by the management of the institution where 80 percent of the lecturers in attendance agreed that they should ignore the ASUU strike and return to class.
When contacted, Chairman, EBSU chapter of ASUU, Prof. Ndubuisi Idenyi, dissociated the union from the purported reopening by the management, saying the strike will continue until they get a directive from their national leadership to resume work.
Students also began to return to AAUA campus yesterday following an earlier directive of the university’s authorities to resume lectures.
Some of the students of the Ondo State-owned university, located in Akungba, Akoko were back in the school for the second semester of the 2012/2013 academic session.
The resumption of the students was disclosed in a statement by the Information Unit of the institution signed by Mr Victor Akinpelumi, who also said some lecturers had resumed for work.
Akinpelu said some lecturers also attended the faculty board meeting of the university scheduled for yesterday.
However, a lecturer of the institution disputed the claim of the university authorities.
The lecturer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told THISDAY that no lecturer attended the faculty meeting, adding that rather than attending the meeting, they attended the ASUU congress.
Meanwhile, the much-expected meeting between Jonathan and the leadership of ASUU did not hold yesterday.
There had been reports after the quiet meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union, which held in Kano at the weekend, that ASUU would meet with the president to be reassured of the federal government's readiness to keep to the agreement they reached at a meeting on November 11.
THISDAY however gathered that a visit by the union might not have been on the president's itinerary for yesterday.
The Chairman of ASUU, UniAbuja chapter, Dr. Clement Chup, denied knowledge of any intention to meet with the president.
Speaking with THISDAY on why last weekend's meeting was held in secrecy, Chup in a telephone conversation yesterday, said: "Sometimes some information are not for the press, you (press) should bear with us at such times."
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