On Saturday, 20th of March, the LAUTECH Student Union called for an emergency meeting at be held at 250LT .The meeting was called to discuss LAUTECH ASUU’s strike, why they should opt out of the national strike, and the next line of action if ASUU fails to reply within 72 hours. It was decided that if reply is not received soon, a peaceful protest will hold.
The Student Union President, Anuoluwa, some of the SUG executives, department presidents, SRC, faculty presidents, representatives and students witnessed the meeting. During the meeting, the LSUG president stated reasons why LAUTECH ASUU joined the strike alongside the national ASUU. He mentioned that they are fighting for revitalisation and infrastructure, academic earned allowance among others, which were promised but not delivered.
It was explained that infrastructure and revitalisation were not an excuse because TETFUND is not run by ASUU but only as a facilitator.
“The earned allowance is not an excuse due to the fact that some students were denied their examinations because they were unable to pay the tuition fee which was used for the payment of the earned allowance. ASUU went on strike last semester due to the earned allowances, did any federal university join us during the strike?”
He also mentioned reasons why LAUTECH ASUU should opt out like the fact that the strike is affecting students who are crossing to another department because their results will be released late. Also, it is affecting class ’20 students who have used up to 7 years for a 5 years course. The strike can deter LAUTECH’s growth and move the institution backward.
On the other hand, some ASUU members are still having their inaugural lectures, and ODL lectures are still on, that raised the question of why lectures are on hold when other activities didn’t stop.
“Some other schools like Delta State University didn’t join the national ASUU strike. Why can’t we opt out?”
Although, a meeting was held on Tuesday with the zonal coordinator, it didn’t yield a good result.
At the end of the meeting, students agreed that if ASUU doesn’t negotiate with them within 72 hours, they will negotiate at the school gate as all school gates will be locked on Monday for a peaceful protest. This way, students will show their grievances about this strike. However, a reminder will be sent to ASUU before the peaceful protest .
