ASUU strike: Suspend it in honour of Iyayi –UNIBEN Board chairman tells Union

As the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ NEC
meeting gets underway, the Pro-Chancellor and
Chairman of the Governing Board of the University
of Benin, Senator Bob Effiong, has appealed to
the striking lecturers to go back to classrooms as
a last respect to the late Professor Festus Iyayi who lost his life while struggling for the course of
the Union. Iyayi, a former Head of Business Administration
Department of the University of Benin and former
National President of ASUU was killed in an auto
crash while on his way to attend ASUU National
Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Kano. Effiong had expressed that the death of Iyayi was
painful as he was unable to see to the end of
what he was struggling to resolve; a strike he said
had lasted for more than four months. The Chairman had equally, in a condolence visit to
Iyayi’s family yesterday called on the Union to
institute an academic foundation in honour of
Iyayi for his immeasurable contribution to the
nation’s education sector.
“…it is expedient at this point for both the federal government and ASUU to come to an
understanding in honour of this great patriot,”
Effiong said . The condolence message reads thus: “When we
take into cognizance his immense contributions
to ASUU in its quest to reposition Nigerian
universities in the world and his role as a teacher
and scholar, we know that the academia has lost
a rare gem that would be difficult to replace. “However, we want to console you to bear the
loss with fortitude, resting in the knowledge that
Professor Iyayi gave his life in the struggle to
ensure a better and brighter future for the
Nigerian child in terms of sound education.”