Dr Opadeyi wants to stay at UG, …but demands improved pay, benefits for lecturers

guyana chronicle news, October 28, 2015

FACED with major criticisms, opposition and protest, and having not been approached by either the administration or the University Council to have his services retained, UG Vice Chancellor Dr Jacob Opadeyi told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday that he is still willing to extend his tenure at UG, but there are certain conditions which must be met.Dr Opadeyi said improved salaries and benefits for the teaching staff, an issue that requires the intervention of government, is one condition. He recalled that “it was due to the poor salaries and benefits of lecturers that resulted in the series of strike actions earlier this year.”

The University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus

Since taking office in 2013, Dr Opadeyi has come in for major criticisms, and his relationship with the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) and the UG Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) deteriorated in late January.

On January 26, the University was forced to close its doors for a period of five weeks after negotiations between the university’s administration and the unions collapsed over salary and non-salary benefits. At the time, the unions were demanding a 60% increase in salaries, among other benefits. Deplorable facilities, shortage of staff, and lack of critical equipment were among other issues placed on the table.

On Tuesday, however, Dr Opadeyi made it clear that he is not solely responsible for the provision of better wages and salaries. “They don’t understand. This is not something that the Vice Chancellor has control over; it requires the intervention of the government,” he made clear.

Nevertheless, he said: “We must be able to attract and (retain) highly qualified teaching staff. When you have staff whose salaries are not up to the market rate, there will be agitation.”

According to him, it was “agitation” that led to the five weeks of protest, which ended in March after a 10% interim increased had been given to the staff.

If this key condition is not met, Dr Opadeyi said, he would not stay to endure further abuse. “If I decide to stay and these issues are not addressed, then I would be exposing myself to the abuse that was meted out to me before, during, and after the strikes…”

Slated to demit office in February 2016, Dr Opadeyi was confirmed as the Vice Chancellor in December, 2012. At that time, he was a serving professor in the area of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management at the University of the West Indies. He had replaced Professor Lawrence Carrington, who demitted office on March 31, 2012.

Dr Opadeyi holds various academic qualifications, which include a Ph.D in Land Management from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada, and an M.Sc and B.Sc (First Class Honours) in Surveying from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.