Striking members of the Senior Staff Academic of Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union and the National Academic of Educational Technologists at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, prevented candidates from sitting the mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in the university on Monday.
Our correspondent gathered that the students had started the examination around 8am when the workers stormed the venue of the computer-based test and switched off the electricity supply.
Although the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, and the Police Area Commander in Ile-Ife, Mr. Funso Adegboyega, pleaded with the workers to restore the electricity so that the candidates could continue with the mock test, they refused to do so.
The Chairman of SSANU, OAU chapter, Mr. Ademola Oketunbi, told our correspondent that the three unions were on a national strike and it would amount to sabotage to allow the test to hold on the campus.
He said, “We woke up in the morning and found that they were taking a mock test conducted by JAMB, while our national strike was ongoing. You know that our members are the ones in charge of electricity and water. We switched it off and the test was stopped.”
The Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, when contacted, appealed to the workers to give peace a chance and engage the management in dialogue towards resolving the issue.
He also appealed to the candidates who were prevented from doing the test to bear with the institution.
He said,”The OAU is not like this. We will resolve the matter. We want to appeal to the candidates to bear with us. It is not a fight against the management of the university but against the Federal Government.”
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