Members of the non-teaching staff of the Adeyemi University of Education (AUE) in Ondo have protested the alleged plan to reverse the status of the institution back to college of Education.
AUE was among four other Colleges upgraded to specialised universities by the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The aggrieved workers, who include members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), further alleged that some unnamed persons were behind the move to revert the institution to its former status.
The Nation, however, learnt that some lecturers in the institution and other newly upgraded Universities were those allegedly agitating this move.
Sources revealed that some of these lecturers are those without PhD qualifications who are afraid of being laid off if the full academic activities commence in the institution.
Before the protest, the workers called a congress where the unions formed an association called the Joint Non-Teaching Staff Action Committee (JNTSAC) to fight their cause.
They later moved to the Ondo-Ore-Lagos express road opposite the gate of the university carrying placards with different inscriptions such as ‘Mr. President take away corruption, not our university, ‘University status, no going back,’ ‘forward ever, backward never’.
Speaking with reporters, the Chairman of JNTSAC, Mr. Femi Lademikan, said the non-teaching staff of the institution are against any move to reverse the status of the university.
He said: “We want our university to remain as it is; we are appealing to the government through this peaceful demonstration that the status of the university should remain. Our governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, is doing very well and we appreciate him on this. We are using this medium to tell him that we want him to be more proactive on this issue.
“We are also telling President Muhammadu Buhari that the institution has everything to qualify it for a university. We have the manpower, people and resources to maintain this school. The structure is there and we have an enabling environment, Mr. President must not listen to people who are enemies of progress.”
Also, members of Adeyemi Federal University of Education Academic Staff Union (AFUEASU) said they were against the agitation for the reversal of the institution status to college.
The Union in a statement issued and signed by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Olaolu Olaniyan, said taking such action would cause an avoidable crisis in the University.
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