The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), University of Ibadan (UI) Branch, have faulted the stand of the university’s Senate for condemning last week’s protest and recommending sanctions for their members.

They declared that the Senate of the university had no power to punish their members. The Senate of the university had on Wednesday, at its emergency and extraordinary meeting, condemned the two unions for disrupting the process of electing the 13th vice chancellor of the university on October 28, 2020. The Senate also said that normal disciplinary measures should be instituted against members of the two unions for the disruption.

But SSANU Chairman, Mr. Wale Akinremi, who addressed journalists in company of NASU Chairman, Mr. Malachy Etim; SSANU Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Omisore; NASU Chairman of College of Medicine, Mr. Akinlolu Akinlade; NASU Secretary, Mr. Sunday Akinpelu and Mr. Timothy Ohiuan, chided the Senate for neglecting its primary responsibilities and pursuing selfish agenda.

He said that the role of the Senate was purely academic and not in any capacity to recommend punishment for any protesting member. Akinremi, who questioned the true representation of the Senate meeting, described the threat to punish the union members as a joke taken too far, pointing out that the Act establishing the university had defined the lines of responsibility of the various arms of governance in the most unambiguous terms.

The SSANU Chairman, who assured members that it was just the beginning of the struggle to retrieve the university, said only God knows the next vice chancellor of the university.

He said: “We have made our position known and we cannot be a judge in our own case. While we await the final resolution of the conundrum, we want to use this platform to commend all the shortlisted candidates for their maturity and forbearance during the protest. We also appreciate the Council chairman for his fatherly presence to address our Congress.”

Meanwhile, the unions, which urged the Federal Government to pay the salaries of the lecturers and engender a paradigm shift towards strengthening academic quality with the idea, said: “We are also going to recommend a comprehensive change in the process of the appointment of vice chancellors. The powers of the vice chancellors in the selection of the deputy vice chancellors must be reduced.”

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