LAUTECH Students Locks UTME Candidates Out Of Campus

Students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, on Monday morning, prevented candidates who are billed to write 2017 JAMB examination from entering the premises of the institution.

The students shut out UTME candidates allocated to the school as an examination centre, in protest to the decision of lecturers to suspend teaching until they are paid their outstanding salaries.

The LAUTECH students have insisted that the gates would remain shut until a resolution is reached between the aggrieved lecturers and management to the effect that lecturers would resume in the next 48 hours.

Furthermore, the grouse of the students is that the fate of current students is yet to be resolved while another set of students are to be admitted.Nigerian Tribune learnt that the students had mobilised themselves as early as 6.00 a.m. for the action, and stationed themselves in teams across all entrances into the institution.

Sources informed that they barricaded all the entrances, thus, preventing any vehicular and even pedestrian movements in and outside the campus.

It was also gathered that all staff of the institution, both teaching and non-teaching were denied entry.

One of the students who spoke with Nigerian Tribune under condition of anonymity disclosed that they “resolved to deny JAMB candidates entry this morning to let the world know that the on-going strike in LAUTECH is still on.”

The police are said to be at the school gate to ensure that the situation does not assume a violent dimension.

Currently, UTME candidates loiter outside the school gate hoping that the situation would be resolved by the relevant authorities for the examination to hold.

LAUTECH lecturers on the platform of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently began offering skeletal services by invoking the “No pay, No work” principle pointing to breaches in the agreement the union reached with the university’s management in February 2017, especially noting the accumulation of salaries arrears of seven and a half months.

It would be recalled that the union had in February called off a seven months strike following the release of N584 million by the two owner state governments of Oyo and Osun to clear two months of the outstanding salaries owed staff.

As of the time of filing this report, all the gates leading to the campus were under lock and key.