The National Open University of Nigeria, on Tuesday, ruled out the participation of its lecturers in unionism, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, because its structures were different from conventional universities.
The NOUN also said 25 inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Service centres were among the 22,250 students scheduled for graduation during the forthcoming convocation.
The Vice-Chancellor, NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, stated these on Tuesday during a press conference on the 11th convocation scheduled for Saturday.
Speaking on why NOUN lecturers were not part of ASUU, Peters said the institution’s structure would not permit it to go on strike unlike the conventional universities.
He said, “In regard to ASUU agitations, yes, we do have agitations, that is normal in any human association, but this university does not accept that for the fact that our students are different from conventional universities’.
“Our students have special motivation to read and study, because of that we discourage our staff from joining the national strike, but they have every reason to have unions among themselves, but we have restricted that because our students are different.”
“We have 25 inmates, one graduating in MSc and the remaining as undergraduates. All these are sponsored free by the university as our own contribution to social equality.”
According to him, over 1,500 graduates of NOUN have enrolled into the Nigeria Law School, while all the institution’s programmes, including the Law programme, have been accredited by the National Universities Commission.
Peters said NOUN products were doing well in the Law School.
The VC stated, “We have about 1,500 students, who are graduates of our institution currently in the Law School. We have about the same numbers yet to be enrolled in the Law School.
“The reason why I said it is a special relationship is that you recall that we had a slightly wonderful relationship with them, because they were not sure about the kind of graduates we were producing and the idea now is let us try them first.”
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