.:
BENIN— Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ambrose Alli University, AAU, chapter, Ekpoma, Edo State, yesterday, threatened to embark on a fresh strike action, if the state government fails to appoint a substantive Vice-Chancellor, VC, before the current industrial action embarked upon by the national body of the union was called off.


A statement by the chapter Chairman, Professor Fred Esumeh, said that the state government was yet to appoint a substantive VC for the university in the past three years, noting that the situation was hindering progress in the institution.

The statement said: “The union had in the past made several efforts to draw the attention of the Governing Council and state government to the need to appoint a substantive VC for the university in consonance with the law and best practice.

Negotiation
“For the information of the public, the union’s efforts to ensure that a substantive VC was appointed culminated in the visit of a delegation of our National Executive Council, NEC, to the Visitor to the university on April 8, 2013.

“The fallout of the meeting was the understanding and promise of the Visitor to swiftly resolve the issue of the appointment of a substantive VC.

“This understanding was followed by a permission of NEC to our branch to embark on an industrial action if on expiration of the time lag granted by NEC, the appointment of a substantive VC was not made.

“Again, for the information of the public, that time lag expired on July 31.

“The union had before now advised and encouraged the Governing Council to explore the period of the ongoing national strike action to commence and, if possible, conclude the process for the appointment of a substantive VC.”