Gbenro Adesina
As usual, the non-academic staff of the University of Ibadan, (UI) threw caution to the wind as they violently protested against non-payment of certain allowances and the status of the staff school.
The pain their protest has inflicted on the members of the university community is unimaginable, as they close and lock all the gates leading into the Premier University, thereby subjecting everyone unto unbearable hardship. Members of the University community and visitors were made to trek long distances to their destinations from the University gates.
After locking the gates and blocking roads for vehicular movement, the striking workers went fetish as they erected a shrine in front of the main gate of the institution.
Though, the protest started in the middle of the second semester examination, the students doggedly endured all hardship by ensuring that the examination was concluded.
It was gathered that the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka escaped being assaulted after the conclusion of a Senate Meeting on February 26, 2020.
Professor Adebola Ekanola, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic also had a bitter taste of the protest as the striking staff did everything possible to frustrate his inaugural lecture slated for 5pm to 6pm on February 27, 2020. The protesting workers locked the gates of the institution throughout the day and caused traffic jam at Agbowo Area of Ibadan.
Reacting to the situation on the campus, students and academic staff of the institution, however, berated the institution’s vice chancellor for failure to curtail the excesses of the non-academic staff, saying that the non-academic staff have turned the institution into a banana republic.
They called on the federal government to assist in ensuring that the non-academic unions are called to order saying that if such a situation continues, it may lead to confrontation one day
Interestingly, the mode of the protest violates the resolution of the governing council of the institution, which have equivocally resolved that no union should lock the gates or subject other members of the community to any stress if protesting.
