Emmanuel Osodeke, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed that members of the body may find it delicate to get to their separate schools on Monday as they don’t have “money for transport ”.
This was made known on Sunday by the ASUU president while speaking about matters arising from the suspense of the ASUU strike on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
Prof Osodeke said unlike those days when lecturers lived in staff diggings veritably near to premises, utmost speakers now live far down from the academy premises as utmost seminaries couldn’t give accommodation for them.
He said since they’ve not been paid for eight months, it would be delicate for them to go the transport fares to their separate seminaries to educate scholars.
“In schools those days, every lecturers lives on lot and you can journey to your office but these days, numerous lecturers live 20, 30 kilometres to their services. How will they pay for their transport to work?
These are the issues we’re going to have, that the branches will have to deal with. We anticipate the government to pay the plutocrat (eigth months payment arrears) so that these people will go back to work while we’re negotiating on other issues. ”
Attesting the suspense of the strike, he said “ we suspended the strike hoping that the government will do the needful and by hereafter, if the universities are open, hopefully, the speakers will go back to work.
“We’re continuing because we’re adhering an artificial court judgement because the issues haven’t been completely resolved, no agreement inked.
“We’re also hoping that with the intervention of the Speaker (of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila), as promised by him, we will resolve this problem within a veritably short time.
“Our lecturers will teach but you can’t anticipate someone who’s owed eight months ’ payment, perhaps from his bank, he has collected further than N1m as a loan and you haven’t paid him one kobo and you want him to go to class and teach .
“I supplicate they go there because of the children and do the stylish they can do. You do n’t anticipate a hungry man to go there( school) with an open mind.