Strike forces UNILAG to postpone screening of UTME candidates

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has postponed screening of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates which was billed to start on Monday.

The postponement was necessitated by a strike embarked upon by non-academic staff of universities.

The screening, earlier scheduled to end on December 15, is for the 2017/2018 academic session.

Taiwo Oloyede, an assistant registrar of the institution, said the screening was postponed indefinitely.

Oloyede said the strike, which began on Monday, disrupted academic and administrative activities in the university.

“The postponement is indefinite; a new date will be announced. “Candidates are enjoined to check the university’s website regularly for updates,” the statement read.

The strike was embarked on by the three non-academic labour unions in the university.

The unions are Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Non Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

The three unions downed tools under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee (JAC).

Samson Ugwoke, national president of SSANU, told NAN that the strike was comprehensive, total and indefinite.

According to him, the strike resulted from the federal government’s failure to take action on the September 20 memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with the unions.

“It is not just the issue of allowance that we are talking about but also the issue of implementation of a court judgment on our staff schools as well as the issue of acute shortfall in workers’ salaries,” he said.

“Most of our people were laid off unjustifiably; they are yet to be reinstated in the university’s payroll.

“We are tired of being tossed around or seen as not important in the running of the university. We are as important as any other union within the system and need to be given that recognition.

“After several negotiations with the government, we expected that it sees the need to honour whatever agreement reached, but the reverse is the case.”