For the past months, the gates of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, has remained shut to academic activities. The reason (reasons as the case would later prove) bordered on the intransigence of the school's academics on the one hand and the misunderstanding of the Lagos State government's position on the issues causing rift between the two parties. In this protracted face-off between government and the institution's chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), there appears to have been three seemingly knotty but resolvable issues in contention. Two of the issues, as it were, involve increased salaries and arrears while the third one has to do with the accreditation of courses in the school. Perhaps it is necessary to dig deep into these issues so as to bring to the fore, if for nothing else but to give the public an opportunity to have a good grasp of the problems, government's efforts at resolving the lingering face-off among others. At the root of the crisis is the controversy generated by the 15 per cent salary increment for all government employees in Lagos State years back. This approval was graciously made in the twilight of the past administration of Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2007. It is on record that the current administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola in the state ensured that all government agencies and parastatals were paid the then new salary regime but that of LASU that was equally approved with others at that time was not paid. The hiccup was not caused by the state government as it indeed and words performed its own side of the bargain. The problem was that of administrative misconception because when the money was given as subvention to the institution, its management innocently thought it was meant for the purpose of further developing the infrastructure in the institution. Consequent upon this information breakdown that regrettably caused the delay in the payment of the salary arrears, the lecturers threatened to down tools which they eventually did contrary to meaningful pleas by notable sons and daughters of the state against such move that has proved counter-productive in the past. The state government and the leadership of the institution did not fold their arms at this action that is capable of causing paralysis to the activities of the institution. The governor showed exemplary understanding to the explanation that the subvention was used to develop infrastructure in the institution having been duly apprised and convinced that the money was judiciously applied. At this juncture, Governor Fashola agreed to pay the backlog which has ballooned to arrears of N3 billion in three instalments of N1 billion each. That promise as at today has not been reneged upon just as the first tranch of the instalments have been paid. The second tranch is about being paid while the third is in the process of being paid by the Lagos government despite the lingering but unnecessary strike of the lecturers that has paralysed academic activities in the institution. This official gesture means nothing to the lecturers with an antecedent of insatiable demands even when the future of their students is at stake. While this problem of 15 per cent is about to be resolved, the lecturers came again with the implementation of a 53 per cent agreement their national ASUU body reached with the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's administration. In a realistic leadership approach, the late president added a proviso to the 53 per cent agreement he had with the national ASUU that the agreement is not blanketly biding on the states. By this, he meant that only federal institutions would benefit from the 53 per cent upward salary review. He, however, enjoined state-owned universities' members of ASUU to negotiate with the 36 states on behalf of their members with a view to arriving at a middle of the road in their resolution of the percentage increase to be adopted by the individual state concerned. The late president makes a lot of sense because the monthly allocations going to each of the 36 states are not equal and the same. This invariably suggests that some if not all the states, may be unable to match payment wise what the Federal Government has offered to pay federal lecturers. Even under the ongoing dispensation, the current Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayat Rufai, also told the nation that the agreement Federal Government reached with the umbrella body of the university lecturers is not biding on the state because each state has its own challenges and that not all the states are deep-pocketed. Unexpectedly, however, ASUU (LASU) insisted the Federal Government scale must be the benchmark for them as well. At present, the same insistence by ASUU in the five states of South-east is at the root of the closure of all the universities in that region. This means that ASUU members especially in LASU are no longer interested in any serious intellectual research and practicality but in collecting salaries that are capable of running the state bankrupt if it must attend to its other social responsibilities. Once again, the question of true federalism that many Nigerians, including ASUU members, have been clamouring for is actually at the front burner. The conduct of LASU's ASUU members has questioned the realism in this principle. Each state should be allowed to run its administration according to its resources and make progress at its own pace. This is the simplest interpretation that these ASUU members have mischievously failed to understand with grave consequences on their students' future. But it is sad that as truly educated as ASUU members in LASU are, when it comes to salary issues, they, like their counterparts in other states, are always ready to jettison true federalism. A situation whereby Federal Government negotiates on behalf of the states while negotiating with its own workers is and should be unacceptable to genuine lovers of federalism. As a result of the fore-running argument and in the face of paucity of funds, Lagos State, like other states especially in the Eastern part of the federation, told ASUU (LASU) that it could not afford to pay the 53 per cent pay increase for lecturers. But because of the state governor's commitment to the education of indigenes of the state, he came up with certain recommendations so that sanity could be restored to the institution. The governor pleaded passionately with LASU lecturers to call off the strike in the interest of the students. Secondly, he suggested that both parties go before the wages commission set up by the state to negotiate progressively, albeit vertically the salary problem. Thirdly, the governor in his wisdom offered to pay 25 per cent increase and directed the school to embrace the University of Lagos Consult Model by generating the balance from its external campuses and other sources. After all, what has the management of the institution been doing with the huge revenues accruing to its coffers overtime? The unions should hold the school management more accountable for the revenues generated through the running of external campuses and part-time courses. So far, it is doubtful if any state government in the country has agreed to pay up to the percentage increment offered by the Lagos State government. The public should help prevail on the lecturers to embrace the governor's gesture. The third issue has to do with the de-accreditation of some courses in the institution which is quite embarrassing. To this, the governor has perfected his plans of improving the quantity and quality of academic staff of the institution through attractive remuneration. He has also embarked on massive upgrading of infrastructure which is why he just approved the release of N800 million towards this end. All these the Fashola administration promised to do and has been doing even in the face of dwindling fortune of the state's monthly revenue. It will interest anyone to know, and that does not exclude ASUU members in LASU, that the state's monthly revenue has nosedived from N15 billion to N13 billion, which has apparently affected the budget of the state in no small measure. In the meantime, the best thing to do is for the lecturers to really show understanding in the face of paucity of funds. Besides, they must also be ready to help the institution by bracing up to whatever challenges that accompany such sacrifice because in the end, success of the school can be mutually claimed. Again, it must be reiterated that strikes in whatever form does not benefit anybody - both the teachers and the students, in the sense that so much time would have been lost and time is one precious article which is irreversible once it is lost. The lecturers must know that while it is possible to collect salary in arrears but time is irreversible. As parents, they should have empathy for the students otherwise; they will have exposed themselves as part of the problems retarding the progress of LASU.