Staffers of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, MAPOLY, Abeokuta, have called on the government of Ogun State to take over the running of the school, following the failure of the management of the school to meet up with its mandate.
The workers stated this, Wednesday, while protesting the non-payment of three months’ salary, non-implementation of minimum wage, no promotion since 2019 and unpaid 55 months of pension arrears.
Armed with placards with different inscriptions such as ‘Enough of
suffering and smiling, ‘implementation of minimum wage’, ‘pay our pension deduction (55 months)’, ‘we want new management, ‘release our
promotion as and when due, ‘please pay our salaries’, etc, the protesters, who had earlier made their way to the administrative block, barricaded the
entrance to the school.
Speaking with journalists during
the protest, the Chairman of the Senior
Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics, SSANIP, MAPOLY chapter, Dada Olalekan, said the workers have no future with MAPOLY with how it is being administered.
Olalekan said the state government should borrow a leaf from the
Oyo, Lagos and Osun State governments by taking over the account of the school and paying directly from the government coffers.
Olalekan said, “The reason we
are here to demand our entitlements. The management of MAPOLY is owing us three months’ salary from October 2022; all other institutions and government agencies are collecting a minimum wage, MAPOLY has refused to implement the minimum wage; the management is owing us 55 months’ pension arrears.
As I speak, nobody has a pension future here. If anybody retires tomorrow, there’s no future or pension for that person.
“The last promotion that was
done in MAPOLY was in 2019; 2020 to 2022 promotions are still in arrears, the appointment promotion has not been done since 2019, and colleagues in other institutions have overtaken us because of promotion and appointment.
“The government should take
account of MAPOLY and start to
pay us as it is being done in all other states like Oyo State.
“Oyo State has higher institutions and they pay all their salaries before the 25th of every month 100%.”
Kolawole Sopade, the Chairman,
Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU,
MAPOLY branch, while corroborating his colleague in SSANIP said MAPOLY is being run like a private institution where the only source of revenue is school fees.
Sopade lamented that MAPOLY
has no means of survival apart from the inadequate school fees, adding that payment of salaries remains the duty of the government.
He further lamented that the state
government has refused to pay subvention to the school, revealing that a N300 million COVId-19 bailout given to the school was later converted to a loan.
“The salary we are talking about
now, if we collect it, there is no assurance that we will collect another salary in three months based on the JAMB and NBTE quota they gave to us
.
“If we enroll students now, with
limited quota they gave to us, and the limited school fees they are going to pay, there is no means of survival after March or April, that is why we are calling on the government to come to our aid.
“After the school fees are paid
and the management used it to pay salaries at once, there is nothing to rely on, the government should come and take over the polytechnic and run it as a state-owned institution, this is not a private polytechnic, the government should come and take over the account of the polytechnic and run it properly.
“There was a time government
was giving us subvention, along the line, when we had little challenges,
the government gave us N300m bail out during COVID-19, and we thought, it was a COVID effect, we later had that it was a loan and they used our subvention to offset it, and we don’t have any subvention again and no means of survival except for school fees.
“It is only private institutions that are run this way. Let’s emulate Seyi Makinde who pays all the institutions.
