Since the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum by Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the staff unions of Oyo State tertiary institutions on May 24, 2018, the institutions had been mandated to meet with their governing councils and convene local congresses to individually determine their respective lines of action.
While the College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo-Ora had commenced strike since the expiration of the ultimatum, others had followed on various days to include College of Education, Lanlate; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, with Oke Ogun Polytechnic, Saki and Eruwa Polytechnic, being the latest.
Wednesday’s declaration of indefinite strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) of Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, resulted in the shutting of the main gates of the institution, with the leadership of the unions vowing to continue the strike until their demands are met.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, just after concluding its congress, the institution’s ASUP Chairman, Mr Olusegun Aderounmu said, “We are protesting how the government is handling education. Salary should be paid as at when due and there must be a template for payment of our salary arrears before April 30, 2019, which is the full month before the current government expires. This strike is indefinite until our demands are met.
“We are being deprived of many things in the system. There is the issue of salary as well as how the school is being funded. For example, the accreditation of most of our courses will lapse in September.
“The management told us that they did not have enough money and that it awaited the 25 percent to be dropped by the state government. The state government also said it has problem with the Abuja on federal allocation. This means that until that money is given by the federal government, I don’t think Oyo state will give us anything.”
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman, NASU, Mr John Ojedokun said, “The management has failed to yield to our demand, especially on the issue of salary. Truly, the government of the state has given autonomy has not given us financial backup and it is difficult to run the system.
“Every other right of the workforce of the institution is being denied by the management. The government inaugurated the governing council of the institution in January and we thought that they will address the numerous problems of the institution. But, to our surprise, we have seen that the council and management have reached the point of compromise to have been denying us our rights.
“We have 12 months salary arrears and the council who promised to release the template for paying the outstanding arrears has failed to do so. They have paid up till May this year, but we are yet to collect June salary.
“We believe that there is money realized as IGR in the system but there is mismanagement by the management. Members of the management utilize the money to purchase cars and address other personal matters at the expense of the salary of workers.”
However, beyond the issue of salary arrears and inadequate funding, the non-academic staff unions also carried placards to protest against the management of their institution over implementing new promotion criteria which they described as unfavourable to staff.
Enumerating the agitation of non-academic staff, Chairman, SSANIP, Mr Joseph Titiloye, “The governing council must prevail on the management to give us a moratorium on the new criteria for promotion. The new criteria for promotion needs to be amended in some areas because the government gave those on typist cadre the privilege to get to level 11, after undertaking a course with Simeon Adebo Centre.
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“There are people in other Polytechnic like Oke Ogun polytechnic, Saki, who have gotten to level 11, but our management said in the new criteria that those set of workers will be pegged at level 9.
“The Rector wrote that such persons have got to the peak of their careers. The union insists that until they reverse these criteria of promotion or the management be sent packing.”
Speaking on the agitation of the non-academic staff, Public Relations Officer, Eruwa Polytechnic, Mr Gbenga Olayiwola said, “I am not competent to speak on the issue of promotion. But concerning the issue of salary, we all know what is going on in the state. They protested against non-payment of their salary. And the management is fashioning how to solve the problem.”
Reacting to the strike across the institutions, Oyo Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela said the state government had recently shown more commitment by increasing the subvention given to all its tertiary institutions, effective June.
According to Olowofela, it was therefore incumbent on the governing councils and management of the institutions to show dexterity in managing their funds and other resources at their disposal to address their challenges.
“The governing councils will resolve the issues. From the government angle, we have increased the grants to the institution. We used to give The Polytechnic Ibadan, N50 million monthly, we increased it to N80 million, starting from June; The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa and The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki, used to collect about N12million, we have increased it to N27 million; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo has been given N103 million, starting from June; We are mindful of the peculiarities of the College of Education, Lanlate, so they get about N37million monthly while the College of Agriculture, Igbo-Ora gets about N36 million.
“We believe that with dexterity of the management and governing councils, commitment of the institution, they will be able to solve their problems. The commencement of that payment comes from June. I am aware that governing council of The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa has paid their staff May salary awaiting June salary. You are aware that we have not collected May salary here.
“We have shown concern by jacking up grants given to these institutions. We have done the best based on exigencies of the moment and the economic realities in the country. We believe strongly that the institutions will have to look inward to solve their problems,” Olowofela said.
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