The Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulganiyu Ambali, Tuesday lauded the lecturers and non-teaching staff of the institution for sustaining peace and tranquility in the institution despite the crisis in the country’s educational sector, which he said has continued to keep the university system running without any interruption for the past 10 years.
The institution is the only public university in the country that has not witnessed any form of industrial action whether local or national for the past 10 years, a developement which has made the school one of the most sought after by students in Nigeria.
Disclosing this in Ilorin during an annual general meeting with the leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (SSAN) of the university, Ambali however, empathised with sister universities which had been closed down for months due to strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Ambali, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Prof. Yisa Fakunle, made reference to the directive by the federal government to vice-chancellors to open their universities, noting that there was never a time vice-chancellors didn’t go to work since the strike commenced.
“We only pray that they come to a good resolution of this crisis as soon as possible. You can now see why the VC is grateful to each and everyone of you,” he said.
He also praised the union “for being able to work among themselves, give and take, to ensure there is peace and tranquility in the university.” He implored them to “continue to maintain peace and tranquility in the university.”
Also speaking at the meeting, the SSANU branch chairman, Mr. Mansour Alfanla, advocated a bill to be titled, ‘Strike Free Allowance Act’ to reward “patriotic and hard-working citizens who are not engaged in any form of strike.”
The chairman stressed that the Strike Free Allowance Act would forestall the incessant strikes “that had adversely affected our education standard, and also encourage a strike free academic system.”
He warned the federal government against implementing the recommendations in the Needs Assessment Report as well as the white paper arising there from, noting the report “is repugnant, inhuman, counterproductive, unfair, unjust, barbaric and wholesomely ungodly.”
