Ooni Of Ife Intervenes In OAU Crisis, Workers Suspend Strike Action

Aggrieved members of the Non-Accademic Staff Union, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have suspended a strike they embarked upon about three weeks ago. The strike was to protest the alleged non-payment of their 64-month hazard allowance. It was gathered that the workers suspended their strike after a meeting on Wednesday with the school management and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, as the mediator. The workers suspended the strike following a promise by the management to pay them palliatives When contacted, the Chairman of NASU, OAU chapter, Wole Odewunmi, confirmed the suspension of the strike. He said, “We have agreed to suspend the strike following the Ooni’s intervention. Our members will be resuming on Friday because we still need to put some things in place.” It would be recalled that the workers embarked on a protest over their unpaid hazard allowance. In a bid to show their grievances, they paralysed activities on the university campus by closing the library and the senate building. They also blocked the major entrances and refused to supply light and water to the campus.

As the crisis deepened, the authorities of the university closed the school. The authorities later ordered students and the workers to resume in less than a week. To also prevent further protests, no fewer than three Armoured Police Carriers were positioned close to the university’s gate with about 100 policemen seen at the school’s gate on Monday. The management, through a press release by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju, last Thursday, vowed to punish any worker who did not resume on Tuesday (today). “These illegal activities have been reported to the appropriate security agencies. In view of the total disregard for constituted authority and the recalcitrant behavior by members of NASU, all NASU members are hereby directed to return to their duty posts on or before Tuesday, July 21, failing which appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken against erring members of the university,” the management had said.