Oyo state government has said lecturers of state universities cannot join the planned strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities over the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPIS).
This is coming after ASUU at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, on Sunday told The PUNCH that it members would obey the directive of their headquarters on the IPPIS strike.
While speaking with The PUNCH, the Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Dahud Sangodoyin, said there was no basis for state university lecturers to join the ASUU strike on the IPPIS. The commissioner said state and the federal universities lecturers were under different employers.
He asked, “If you say somebody wants to do something what would be the grounds for doing it? In some climes, you don’t go on strike without going to an arbitration court, but in Nigeria, you don’t have that style. If you want to go on strike you must have a purpose for doing that.
“I am not of the school of thought that you just go on strike without any reason, just because you want to do it. The federal universities have their own grounds. Are they the same as state universities? Of course, not. We have many variables that are not comparable. They don’t have the same salary scale to start with; They are not on the same allowances and not in the same category of salaries and emoluments.”
The commissioner disclosed that the state paid the salaries of its higher institutions’ staff on Friday.
He stated, “We should really be reasonable in this country. It is not everything that you embark on strike for. By going on strike you are destroying other people’s lives. By going on strike, you are destroying our future generation.”
