LECTURERS at the polytechnics and colleges of education owned by the Osun State government have given Governor Rauf Aregbesola a 21-day ultimatum to resume payment of full salaries and address other issues including obnoxious taxes, lack of good roads and toilets for students.

The lecturers, who are operating under the aegis of Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions, gave the ultimatum in a letter dated November 6, and addressed to the governor.

The lecturers said in the copy of the letter which was made available to the Punch correspondent in Osogbo, capital Osun State, on Tuesday, November 7, that they had been placed on half salary for the past 26 months and had been paying high tax despite this.

The letter was signed by Olusegun Lana Chairman of CASUOSTI; Sikiru Foluruso, secretary, as well as chairmen and secretaries of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree;  Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke; College of Education, Ilesa and College of Education, Ila Orangun.

The lecturers appealed to Aregbesola  to start paying them full salaries and to ensure that staff offices and other infrastructure were put in place at the various institutions to ensure conducive environment to teaching and learning.

The letter said in part: “For several years now, the academic staff  of the state-owned  tertiary institutions have been subjected to untold hardship, frustrations and unprecedented levels of demoralization by the harsh effects of un-addressed festering issues ranging from unfulfilled collective agreement, selective justice in the reinstatement of disengaged members of staff, withdrawn statutory benefits tantamount to salary reduction, salary modulation (half salary) regime now up to 26 months, cut-throat tax, injuriously administered contributory pension scheme to several other painful conditions.

“Many of these festering issues have become recurrent and their unbearable consequences have occasioned perennial industrial disputes often punctuated by duly signed agreement upon which government had repeatedly reneged.”

– Nov 7, 2017 @ 16:22 GMT |