Activities were paralysed for many hours at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and its environs on Monday, following protest by members and officials of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities over the recent sacking of 23 of their members.
The affected members of staff were reported to have been sacked last Thursday by the Governing Council and the vice-chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole.
The protesting workers who were joined by some national executives of the union from the Western zone , assembled at Isolu community, which is about a kilometre away from FUNAAB, where they made their grievances known to journalists.
They made bonfires on the road as early as 7am, sang solidarity songs and prevented vehicular movement along the Alabata Road which led to the school.
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The protest according to the leadership of FUNAAB-SSANU was carried out to call for the setting up of a visitation panel to look into activities of the institution’s management in the last four years and the reinstatement of the 23 sacked workers.
The National Vice-President, Western Zone, Alfred Jimoh, who addressed the gathering and journalists, called for an “immediate and unconditional recall” of their sacked colleagues.
He argued that those sacked colleagues were “asking for probity, accountability and transparency in the handling of the finances of the institution.”
Jimoh berated the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for allegedly divulging the identities of the ‘whistle blowers’ to the Vice-Chancellor.
He said, “If the Federal government is indeed sincere in its anti – corruption war, the searchlight should be beamed at FUNAAB.”
The Head of Public Relations Directorate of the institution, Mrs Emi Alawode, said normal activities had resume in the school, as academic and non-academic staff were at their duty posts.
