Gboyega Akosile, Chief Press Secretary to the Lagos State Government, on Sunday, responded to claims made by Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi that Anambra State University is the only varsity still open as the ASUU strike entered its sixth month.
Peter Obi in a now-viral interview with Voice of the People FM insinuated that the Anambra State University was about the only university that is currently not shut down as a result of the ongoing ASUU strike.
According to the former governor, the university was still in session as a result of the efforts he made while as governor.
“You’re talking about what I did, you heard somebody saying that the only university that is not shutdown today is Anambra state university because of what peter Obi did,” the former Anambra state governor had during the interview said.
In response to the viral interview, Akosile clarified in a tweet that several state-owned universities were not currently observing the ASUU strike, which has kept students of Federal and some state-owned universities at home for over five months.
“Dear Mr. @PeterObi, why do you lie with ease? there are several Universities that aren’t on strike- Lagos State University,” Akosile said.
He listed “@LASUOfficial, Kaduna State University, Kwara State University, Rivers State University, Osun State University, Kogi State University,” as state-owned universities that have decided to stay off the over-stretched strike.
Recall that on February 14, ASUU announced a statewide strike in protest of poor welfare conditions, the failure of previous agreements to be renegotiated, and the purported imposition of IPPIS by the government.
However, the union in August decided to extend the strike, which had been in effect for five months, by another four weeks, claiming that the Nigerian government had not demonstrated any interest in resolving the ongoing crisis. The union added that the additional four weeks would be used to assess the government’s seriousness and resolve to address its concerns.
While some state-owned institutions joined the strike in solidarity with their colleagues at federally controlled universities, other state governments explicitly prohibits their lecturers from participating in the strike and implemented a no work, no pay policy against lecturers who disobeyed the order.