The protesting staff unions in the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU); Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities( NASU) have vowed to sustain their ongoing protest till the state government yield to their cry.
The workers locked out the vice-chancellor, Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun and resuming students from gaining access into the university premises on Monday as the school is billed for reopening after six months of closure due to Covid-19 pandemic.
They are protesting the non- implementation of the minimum wage for the one year and five months after the state government had signed it into law and also started paying its other workers outside tertiary schools.
They said the action of government on this development is a gross injustice to them and therefore would no longer condone it.
They said, that LASU is currently ranked the second-best university after the University of Ibadan in the midst of other high profile universities in the country just two weeks ago is not only an indication but also a testament to their strong commitment to work and the economic development of Lagos State and beyond and therefore deserve their wages.
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The chairman of ASUU of the university, Dr Ibrahim Bakare and his counterpart in charge of NASU, Mr Saheed Oseni, told Nigerian Tribune in a separate interview that all the unions in the university came together under the Joint Front Action(JAF) umbrella to embark on the protest.
When asked why choosing the resumption day after six months of closure to carry out the action, they said it simply meant that they had been enduring all along and now believe it was high time their welfare is improved.
In his reaction to the development, the head of Press and Public Affairs of the university, Mr Ademola Adekoya, said the government is already addressing the issue.
He reaffirmed that the vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun, had earlier at the gate on Monday appealed to them to allow peace to reign but all to no avail.
He said it is only the state government as a proprietor of the university that can resolve the issue and that it is already doing so.
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