UI Senate known to face academic matters, not union struggles, SSANU, NASU say

The non-teaching staff unions of the University of Ibadan (UI) have berated the composition and resolutions of the institution’s Senate meeting held on Wednesday as one that not truly reflective of what the Senate of the university stands for.

According to Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Senate of the university is known to sit squarely on academic matters and not on matters of union struggles.

Chairman, SSANU, Mr Wale Akinremi, who addressed a press conference at the union’s office in the University of Ibadan, on Thursday, said the Wednesday’s Senate meeting was a gathering of people loyal to the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka, and not the “respected” Senate saddled with the responsibility of enforcing academic policies.

It will be recalled that the Senate meeting held on Wednesday at International Conference Centre of the institution, condemned the October 28 disruption of the council meeting by NASU, SSANU, leading to the announcement of the suspension of the Vice-Chancellor appointment process by the council chairman, Dr Joshua Waklek.

Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose who read resolutions of Wednesday’s meeting, attended by 188 members of staff, had also affirmed the Senate’s confidence in the process leading up to the appointment of the next Vice-Chancellor, calling for its continuation and conclusion.

Buttressing the latest stance of NASU, SSANU, on Thursday, Akinremi said the university’s Senate had no right to sit over union’s struggles and is never known to be a “meddlesome interloper.”

“Every staff of the university has an appointment that has been gazetted by the federal government of Nigeria.

“The Act establishing the university has defined the lines of responsibility of the various arms of governance, in the most unambiguous terms.

“When has it become the responsibility of the Senate to sit on matters of union struggles in the university? In any case, the dramatics of yesterday is not a true reflection of the respected Senate of our great university.

“It was a political meeting of Olayinka Peoples Party. Our Senate can never be a meddlesome interloper, petty and infantile.

“They do not have a right to sit on our matter. Senate is meant for purely academic matters. We are non-teaching members of staff but they know that we are well-read.

“That is not a Senate meeting of the University of Ibadan. You need to know the composition of the Senate. The same meeting was where their members were carrying us along. We know academicians in this university. They face their teaching and research.

“When was the last time they discussed misgovernance in the university? Those that sat there yesterday are anti-public and we don’t take them seriously,” Akinremi said.

Mr Wale Akinremi spoke alongside his NASU counterpart, Mr Malachy Etim and other executive council members of the two unions.

Asked that the Senate has said unions do not have a role to play in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor, Akinremi said the unions were only exercising their right to freedom of speech and to point to flaws in the process towards the emergence of the next Vice-Chancellor.

Akinremi added that the concern of the unions was for due process to be followed and not to directly appoint the next Vice-Chancellor.

“All Nigerians have a say in anything public. We did not say we will directly appoint a Vice-Chancellor. But we have a right to call attention.

“Imagine they follow a wrong process to appoint a Vice-Chancellor and we have to go through legal process and such a Vice-Chancellor is removed by the court of law. Is it not a shame on the university?

“Is it not better that you listen to us? Is it not true that there are some fundamental flaws and we didn’t say we will be a judge in our own case?

“We said we had written our petition and our concern is that due process be followed. We are not going to make the Vice-Chancellor.

“For you to say that we don’t have a say, don’t we have a power of recall for the National Assembly members? Did we not invest our legislative arm with the power to impeach governors? We have elected council/congregation members, even Senate.

“We have only made observations but because they have issues with democratic tenets, they think that they are emperors; they think they can force things on everybody,” Akinremi said.

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