For Osun tertiary institutions, it’s strike galore

Public tertiary schools in Osun State are facing turbulent times, SODIQ OYELEKE reports

OSUN State has up to seven tertiary institutions. They include the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; The Polytechnic, Iree; College of Education, Esa-Oke; colleges of education in Ilesa and Ila-Orangun; the Osun State University; and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede.

Curiously, while their programmes largely differ, academic activities in all the schools are currently in limbo.

For instance, while the authorities of the OAU shut the Federal Government-owned university last week – because of students’ protest against hike in fees – the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, has been part of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic’s nationwide strike that has dragged on for over 240 days.

Beyond the crises in the two federal institutions, industrial action dogs many of the other public institutions in the state. In fact, their gates have remained shut for more than four months as their workers are at loggerheads with the state government.

According to the workers, the Rauf Aregbesola government has yet to meet their five-point demands. The requests, the workers say, border on pension scheme, retirement age policy, shortage of lecturers, completion of balance of 10 per cent salary scale and poor state of infrastructure in schools.

In a document released by members of the academic staff of Osun State-owned tertiary institutions, titled, “Why we are on strike”, the lecturers argue that they have engaged the state government in negotiations to end the action but these have failed to yield any result.

For instance, on the contributory pension scheme, the statement says, “This issue has been in contention and a series of meetings with representatives of the government have not yielded any definite solution. Among issues at stake is the non-remittance of contributed amount and government counterpart fund to individual retirement savings account. Up till today, the state government has deducted from our pay the prescribed 7.5 per cent but has not remitted it. To be precise, the authorities have yet to credit our 11-month deductions into our RSAs.

“The law that guides this scheme mandated all operating entities to put a ‘bond’ in place before commencing the initiative. Nothing of this nature is in place; hence, our agitation for suspension of the scheme until the government is ready.

“Also, there should be in place group life insurance which will be the document the next-of-kin can rely on in case of sudden death of the subscriber. This has not been done. The one it claimed it did was the one that covered only local government employees and civil servants in the state. What will be our own fate?”

Accusing the state government of not implementing the law that elongates university professors’ retirement age in Nigerian universities to 70 years, the protesting workers claim that the same law elongates the retirement age for polytechnic and colleges of education staff to 65.

“On May 29, 2012, the government released a circular that conveyed its approval on this policy to us, but at the point of implementation, it witnessed a blunt refusal, which led to the removal of our members’ names from the payroll of the state. The authorities keep telling us that they have done it, that the bill is with the state legislature and so they want us to resume on this basis without evidence of any legislation. This we consider undemocratic.”

On employment of workers and the completion of balance of 10 per cent salary scale, the statement reads, “Yes, we understand the dwindling revenue palaver that the state is facing, but at least some people have retired, some passed on and some left for greener pastures. We are therefore demanding the replacement of this group of people.

“Lastly, attention should be paid to infrastructure, such as roads in our schools, water, power supply and repair of dilapidated buildings.”

ASUP Chairman at the state college of education, Esa-Oke, Mr. Akande Adesola, vows that the unions are not ready to return to work until the government honours the workers’ demands.

He says, “The five-point demands are what we presented before our government four months ago, but solution has yet to be in place. Our students, workers and all other stakeholders are lamenting day in day out. Let the government show commitment by resolving these problems so that we can return to work.”

Apart from the workers, the students are also not comfortable with the situation. They lament that the strike has denied them opportunities to progress in their education.

A student, who craved anonymity, notes that while schools in the state are shut, other national activities are still going on. According to him, the industrial action in the state is not affecting the National Youth Service Scheme, Students Internship Work Experience scheme, and the teaching practice.

Similarly, the Student Union President of the Osun State Polytechnic, Adetunji Oluwaseyi, urges the state government to resolve urgently all outstanding issues with the striking lecturers so that normalcy could return to campuses.

He adds, “It is lamentable that the state government deceived us by announcing resumption of academic activities in its tertiary institutions without reaching a compromise with the striking lecturers.”

But the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Sunday Akere, says the government is doing its best to meet the demands of the striking unions.

He says, “We have been talking to them and, in fact, we actually met with the unions recently. Within the next few days, they should be able to call off the strike.

“The government is trying to meet their demands. We are doing everything within our capacity and resources to ensure that they return to the classroom because of our interest in education. We appeal to them to call off the strike in the interest of our students.”

The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam, also appeals to the aggrieved workers to return to work.

The lawmaker says, “While the agitation of the teaching and non-teaching staff is understandable, the insistence on strike and mobilising students to blackmail the government despite the fact that the major demand of retirement age issue is before the Assembly for legislation could not be a better option. Using a partisan motive to articulate demands is retrogressive, mischievous and antithetical to the principles of unionism.

“The rigid position of the teaching staff of the state tertiary institutions on industrial dispute, despite the all-inclusive intervention of the state parliament, suggests that there is more to the ongoing strike. If the leadership of the union elects partisan compromise to score some points, the result would be a harvest of whirlwind. The leadership of the student unions in the state should learn how to verify facts behind the figures instead of jumping to the streets to cause violence.”