“No Minimum wage no resumption”-Lecturers insist
By Olanrewaju Adesanya
SUNRISE NEWS, Lagos, Sept 11, 2020 Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Education has commended the management of the Lagos State University (LASU) over its level of preparedness for resumption Post-COVID 19.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, while speaking during the visit of the Committee to the institution on Friday 11th September, 2020 expressed satisfaction with the facilities put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the institution prepares for resumption on Monday 14th September.
“We are at the Lagos State University and we have moved round and seen facilities there as the students are preparing to resume after the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We have seen the classrooms, the entrance of the school and the health centre and we can say that LASU is ready for resumption.
“We will look at the agitations of the Union on minimum wage, we will meet them and engage them and we want to call on the Special Adviser On Education to come in on the issue and we will inform the Speaker who would also intervene,” he said.
Ogundimu also congratulated the institution on their award as the second best university in Nigeria.
“We are happy with the peace that has been reigning in LASU for some time now.
“We can now see new things happening in LASU because it is when there is peace that we can see progress. Nothing can be achieved without peace.
“We have heard good news happening on the campus and we praise the management for that,” he said.
However, a protest by the various staffers union of the university over the new minimum wage almost disrupted the visit of the committee to the institution.
The protesters, led by Dr. Ibrahim Bakare insisted that the school would not resume on Monday 14th September if the state government failed to pay the workers the new minimum wage.
The protesters, who chanted various solidarity songs in front of the Law Faculty during the visit, stated that in as much as peace has returned to LASU and they have worked so hard, the school has not taken care of the staff.”
They said that LASU workers were starving and that quite a number of the staff have lost their lives.
“We have done a lot of consultations to express our feelings on why LASU staff should enjoy the new minimum wage.
“Our counterparts in the ministries are enjoying the new minimum wage and unless it is paid, we will not allow the school to resume on Monday,” he said.
While disclosing that they were having a robust management for the first time, Bakare said that the state government had not done enough for the staff, and warned parents not to release their children for resumption in the school on Monday.
Welcoming the Committee earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun, disclosed that the school had made adequate preparation for the school to resume with its final year students on Monday 14th September, 2020.
He said that LASU would be the first university to resume in Nigeria after COVID-19 break, and that the resumption will be on gradual phasing basis.
“We did an audit of our facilities to know the number of spaces we have to maintain social distancing and this informed the gradual phasing.
“The final year students will resume on 14th September and receive lectures from Mondays to Fridays from 9 am to 3 pm daily.
“Postgraduates students (Masters and PhD) would also resume on Monday 14th September, but their lectures would hold strictly on weekends only,” he said.
Fagbohun revealed that every student had an identity card and that those who had lost theirs would be issued temporary ones.
“We have made provisions for hand washing and other facilities in the departments and faculties.
“If you are not supposed to come in at a time, we will not allow you to come in. We have given guidance on the regulations.
“We have quality assurance committee which goes around with a check list of what is in place in our campuses across the state and they will still go round, when the students resume,” he said.