arsities: COPCSUN Chairman Decries Reward of Strike with Payment of Salary

By Hammed Shittu

The newly elected Chairman, Council of Pro-Chancellor of State Universities in Nigeria(COPCSUN), Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Ali(SAN) has said that, as long as Nigeria continues to reward strike with the payment of salaries and arrears, the nation’s university education will not move forward.

He wondered how workers that had abandoned their duty posts for over one year, will still be paid their dues in the country.

Speaking in Ilorin, Kwara State, on the state of the nation, Ali noted that, “In all parts of the world, the principle of no pay, no work is duely observed. Even, countries that we think they are rich like USA, UK and Europe, the principle of no work, no pay remain their main principle.

“In the Europe, USA and UK, if you go on strike for two or three days, money will be deducted from your salary as simple as that, but here in Nigeria, people get compensated for abandoning their work.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who likened the ugly situation in the country where the members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) and other unions would embark on strike for over one year and are being paid with full salaries by the government said such situation would continue to affect the academic excellence of the students .
According to him, “I want to say that there is nothing like make up for students that have been abandoned for over one year by the lecturers because time is something you can’t regain and that is the truth.

“When you loose time, it may be very difficult to regain it. Many universities in the country are now cancelling their academic calendar for 2019/2020 due to the strike embarked on by the ASUU and that is a great loss to the students and parents. Also, the brain is an interested machine for academic pursuits of the students and these students had been away for over one year now, their brain will not function the same again as before their teachers went on strike and this is not good for the nation’s university education.”

Ali who is also the Chairman, Board of Governing Council, Osun State University, Osogbo, said his administration has been able to achieve a lot due to the honesty of purpose being displayed by the members of the governing council of the institution.

“Our contributions to the growth of the university since our appointment has improved the academic and infrastructural facilities of the institution and that had made the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Isiaka Oyetola to reappoint our members for another term of five years in office.

” We didn’t see our appointment as a place for repayment for what have been doing for the university, we dont steak our economic fortune to our appointment in the university and we are committed to the mandate we are given on honest and transparency in all our doings at the university”.

He therefore called on the stakeholders in the university system to have a change of mind on the premise to go on strike every time before they can achieve their demands, saying that such move would not improve the education of students in the nation’s universities.

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