‘It’s Wicked To Welcome Soludo With Strike’

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Anambra State branch, said yesterday that they were opposed to the planned strike by their national body.

They described ASUU strike as counterproductive, stressing that such actions had not yielded any result as far as the institution was concerned.

Addressing reporters at the Igbariam campus of the university, the Interim Chairman, Prof. Osita Chiaghanam, said lecturers had benefited from the generosity of the outgoing visitor, Governor Willie Obiano.

He said welcoming the incoming visitor and governor-elect, Prof.  Soludo, who he hoped would sustain the tempo, with industrial action, would amount to wickedness.

Chiaghanam said: “We’re not in doubt that Soludo will favour us in terms of our demands. We believe he will like the university to move forward by meeting our demands.

“As a Professor of Economics, he’ll pay more attention to us because he’s coming from a university background. Once a lecturer, he will understand better and pay more attention to our demands.

“There’s no justification to join the strike because what comes out of the strike doesn’t benefit state universities. It only benefits federal universities.

“We go on strike with our colleagues in federal universities and they’ll be paid at the end of the day. But we’ll be referred to our visitor to address our matter.”