Conversion to varsity: Moshood Abiola Poly ASUP protests ‘planned sack’

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) of the erstwhile Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), now Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, have started an indefinite strike over alleged plan to sack the entire workforce to pave way for employment of new staff for the new university.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) penultimate week approved the conversion of the Ogun State-owned polytechnic to university, with expected formal operation starting in September.

As part of measures to begin operations, the Transition Committee led by Prof. Peter Okebukola was reported to have invited the leadership of ASUP to a meeting on Monday where he allegedly ordered all staff to resign and re-apply for the university job.

Speaking in an interview after an emergency congress to review the development, the Chairman of ASUP, Kola Abiola, declared that the Okebukola-led team aimed to “shave our hair in our absence without considering the plight of the staffers with move to introduce forceful resignation of staffers and recruitment of new set at the expense of qualified and existing workers.”

Kola said further, “If the committee wants to derive their power on illegality, we the academic minds will resist every form of illegality.”

When contacted on phone, Professor Okebukola said the committee had not issued any instruction to anybody on the issues being raised by the union. “This is not true, it’s fake news because no document or instruction has been issued to anybody. We’ve not met. Nobody has issued any directive to anybody on anything. It is at tomorrow’s meeting that some committees will present their reports after which we are meeting all staff tomorrow to decide on what to do,” he said.