This will be a sequel to the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum issued by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Staff Unions in Oyo State-owned tertiary institutions on May 24 May 2018.
Speaking with Tribune Online on Monday, Chairman, Joint Action Committee of the institutions, Mr Babatunde Adeniyi, the tertiary institutions’ staffs hinge their resolve to resume their strike on poor funding by the state government and the attendant accumulation of between eight to 24 months salary arrears.
He added that the state government had failed to release funds to clear the arrears of salaries as contained in its agreement of January 31, 2018 that led to the suspension of its last strike, while the governing councils of the six institutions had also not provided a template for the payment of the accrued salary arrears.
“Our ultimatum still stands. We are still awaiting the response of the state government, as up till now, they have not said anything. Nothing is stopping us as the strike will be declared on Friday, June 22nd, when our ultimatum lapses,” Adeniyi said.
Also, Adeniyi said the issue of fractional salary payment and payment of accrued salary arrears persisted because the state government only provided 25 per cent subvention which was inadequate to attend to the affairs of institutions.
The staff unions gave a specific instance of the situation at College of Education, Lanlate where staff only received 50 per cent, 25 per cent and 30 per cent of salaries in January, February and March respectively.
ALSO READ: Oyo state-owned institutions’ staff protest non-payment of salary arrears
The staff unions further noted the lamentations of management and governing councils of the institutions of having to utilize all Internally Generated Revenue to augment the 25 per cent provided by the government to pay salaries, yet inadequate to fulfil obligations.
A statement by JAC, signed by Mr Babatunde Adeniyi, also read, “In spite of the position of government that governing councils were constituted to resolve the issue of fractional salary payment and the payment of the accrued salary arrears of between eight to 24 months, yet the issues still linger as not all the institutions have paid full salaries till date.
“In fact, College of Education, Lanlate only received 50%, 25% and 30% of salaries in January, February and March respectively. Furthermore, no council has successfully presented a formal template for the payment of the accrued salary arrears so far.
“That the issue of poor funding by the government in these institutions has compounded problems in the institutions. That this problem has taken its toll on the finances of most of the institutions such that despite other begging projects in the institution, virtually all the money generated by these institutions have been spent on augmentation of the 25% given by the government to pay the salary of January, February and March 2018. The hope of paying subsequent salary has largely dwindled.”
“Against the backdrop and the observation that no commitment has been made by government to uphold the terms of extant agreement of 31st January 2018, the meeting finally resolved to give government a 21 day ultimatum to pay all the accrued arrears failing which all staff of these institutions would resume their suspended strike until these arrears of 8 to 24 months are fully paid. The ultimatum which commences on 25th May 2018 is expected to lapse on Friday, 22nd June 2018.”
and then