Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University, Prof. Bashiru Okesina
Peace is threatened at the seven-year-old Osun State University, whose campuses spread across some towns in the state. Gladiators are practically struggling for the soul of the ivory tower.
Just name them, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bashir Okesina; the Governing Council led by its Chairman, Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin (SAN); members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities as well as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, among others, are engaging in more than a war of words.
The industrial action embarked on August 11, 2014 by members of the SSANU was the opening salvo in what today proves to be a long battle in school. Many initially thought the strike had a political coloration, especially as the action commenced on the first working day after Governor Rauf Aregbesola won his second term election. Aregbesola is the Visitor to the university.
But SSANU has dismissed the insinuation, saying the target is not the governor but the Olawoyin-led council.
According to the union, the council has done nothing to improve the welfare of members of the union. SSANU Chairman, Mr. Lekan Adiat, and the Secretary, Mr. Akeem Adesigbin, say the strike is due to the refusal of the Governing Council to accede to the welfare and promotion demands of its members.
They say, “We wish to state categorically that the strike is not against the Government of Osun State or the management of the university but against the Governing Council of the institution.”
As if the SSANU strike is not enough, its sister group, ASUU, has also threatened to embark on an industrial action if the state government does not caution the Governing Council.
Through its Chairman, Dr. Joseph Abiona, ASUU alleges that the council’s action is impacting negatively on the sourcing of internally generated revenue in the university. Abiona, who says the university does not have enough fund, accuses the council of truncating the initiatives of the Okesina-led management to generate funds for the university.
According to the union, the decision of the Governing Council to stop pre-matriculation programmes, part-time and postgraduate programmes is having an adverse effect on the internally generated revenue of the university.
Besides, Abiona alleges that the citadel has lost some of its best lecturers due to the refusal of the Olawoyin-led council to respect the recommendations of the Appointments and Promotions Committee of the university.
ASUU, Abiona says, wants the council to reverse some of its decisions, such as the cancellation of some academic programmes, non-rectification of some promotions and the revalidation of the report of Prof. Temi Ologunorisa-led staff audit panel.
But ‘Tell that to the marines’ seems to be the response of Olawoyin. Dismissing the allegations levelled against the council, its chairman notes that some powerful elements are stoking the crisis.
Referring to the ASUU claims, Olawoyin says the council is committed to restoring sanity in the system, declaring, “Certain powerful elements are just trying to perpetrate a culture of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism in the university.”
He notes, for instance, that contrary to ASUU’s claim, the council is neck-deep in raising funds for the institution. According to him, the council before now had urged the VC to prepare for consideration all the necessary papers that would help to move the university to loftier heights.
He adds, “To the best of my knowledge, this request is one of the several to be dealt with at the next statutory meeting of council next month (September). I should add that while we awaited this, the vice-chancellor informed the council that the university had begun the Interim Joint Matriculation Board Programme and that he needed its ratification for the programme.
“Council deprecated the action taken by the vice-chancellor, particularly in view of the social and other problems the programme, which is not being run by other universities in the South-West, could cause. The programme is prevalent in the north because of the need to attract students to their universities.
“Students who enrol for such programmes but are unable to gain admission finally are usually the core of cultists in universities. Notwithstanding the fact that the vice-chancellor committed the university to the programme without following due process, the council ratified the running of the course just for the current academic session.”
Olawoyin again stresses that at the council’s last meeting, the VC presented a paper listing some part time courses, which he wanted the council to approve. The VC’s idea, Olawoyin says, did not go down well with the council, especially as it had earlier beeng informed that members of the teaching staff were already overworked.
He notes, “If that is true, where will the university get the members of staff to teach the part-time courses? The VC promised to work on the paper and represent it to council next month. Is this a case of stoppage? I challenge the ASUU leadership to name any other internally generated revenue-driven programmes which has been stopped by the council.
“To ensure a clearly independent and unbiased approach to the protest against the cancellation of Prof. Temi Ologunorisa-led Staff Audit Panel report, the council set up a committee under the chairmanship of a former Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and current Pro-Chancellor of the Ladoke Akintola University, Prof. Wale Omole.
“Significantly, one of the petitions rejected as lacking in merit by the Omole-led committee is that of the ASUU Chairman, Dr. Oluseye Abiona, who usually tries to equate his personal grouse to that of ASUU. Whether we did the right thing by asking such a committee to deal with the rot in appointments and promotions in the university is left for posterity to judge.
“The allegation about the cancellation of appointments of members of staff who responded to advertisements and were found appoint-able by the Appointments and Promotions Committee after they have followed due process confirms my conviction that the ASUU allegations are partly born out of Abiona’s personal interest which he wants to foster, regardless of the merit.
“For a start, it is clear that the final decision on appointments and promotion of staff in any university rests with its Governing Council. Given what we met on ground and the need to sanitise the system, the council has decided that recommendations for appointments and promotions should come before it for consideration and approval. In the process of doing this, the council has discovered many flaws, inconsistencies and gross contradictions in several of the recommendations brought from the Appointments and Promotions Committee headed by the Vice-Chancellor.
“The papers are all there for examination by third parties if it becomes necessary. We, on the council, will never approve what cannot be justified. The council only this year promoted Dr. Abiona to Lecturer 1. Not quite long again, the Appointment and Promotions Committee is recommending him for another promotion to the position of a Senior Lecturer without any evidence of any credible addition to his curriculum vitae.
“It would amount to gross irresponsibility on the part of the council to approve such a recommendation. There are a series of similar cases, which, on hindsight, are brought deliberately to the council to undermine our position and blackmail us into doing things we will later be unable to justify.”
Abiona while dismissing the council’s claim on promotion says he is not pursuing any personal agenda.
He says, “The first promotion is a normal promotion from one cadre to another and it was backdated to 2012. The second one was a response to an advert in the national dailies. I was not the only one who reacted to the advert but he is trying to be funny by mentioning only my name. If he has any reason to fault the recommendation he should make it known.
“I am not pursuing any personal agenda against him. The VC is not using the union or me. If the VC does anything against the interest of the university, we will tackle him.”
Efforts to get Okesina’s reaction proved abortive as he did not pick calls or respond to the text message concerning the controversy. But a source close to the VC says he will not want to speak on the matter on the pages of newspapers.
However, while ASUU and SSANU are accusing the Olawoyin-led council of insensitivity and working against the development of the university, the Non Academic Staff Union disagrees with the two unions. According to the NASU, the council has not failed in its duties toward the welfare of the workers.
The Chairman and the Secretary of NASU, Mr. Isaiah Fayemi, and Mr. Olugbeja Suleman, respectively, fault the claim by the SSANU, saying the council is responsive, competent and development oriented.
Fayemi says, “Pioneer allowance arrears were denied and salary shortfall were pending before the Olawoyin-led council but they have been implemented and paid by the Governing Council. Earned allowance that was not implemented has been paid. We want to say that the present Governing Council has improved on the welfare of workers unlike what obtained before its inauguration.”
Meanwhile, as ASUU, SSANU as well as the council trade accusations, other stakeholders are worried that the crisis may degenerate into something worse.
Little wonder, a parent, Mr. Muyiwa Adeyemi, has urged the Visitor to address urgently all the issues pointing to the crisis. Adeyemi notes that having lost almost a session to the protracted national ASUU strike in 2013, parents and students cannot afford to experience another industrial crisis in the university.
A 200 level student, Esther Akinsipe, also pleads with the warring parties to sheathe their swords in the interest of peace and academic stability.
She stresses that while students outside the country and those in Nigerian private universities usually finish their programmes on schedule, those in public universities in the country spend a longer time on campus.
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