PREMIUM TIMES reported the commencement of a strike action by the non-academic workers of the institution on Wednesday.
Adeniyi
Olowofela, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES tasked the
governing council of the school to take responsibility for the
‘striking’ workers.
“The
question of how to sort the NASU members is not for the state government
but for the governing council of the institution,” he said.
He highlighted the roles and the intervention of the state government in the school so far.
“From April 2016, the government of Oyo State is giving The Polytechnic Ibadan N55 million monthly.
“We held a
meeting with the management and governing council a month ago and we
told them about the intention of the government in line with the KPMG
report to increase the subventions of tertiary institutions relatively
to their needs and abilities.
“The government has increased the subventions to N83 million monthly.
“Apart from that, the schools are also charging school fees and government is not demanding anything from them.
“They are
also generating other forms of IGR (internal revenue) on their own and
the government has never bothered them on what they are doing with the
funds.
“It’s our expectation that they should be able to manage their resources.”
The
commissioner, when asked about the non-payment of over eight months
arrears by the state government, which is one of the yearnings of the
protesting workers, said,
“The
government is not owing anybody. When we are talking about autonomy, the
institution is independent as far as autonomy is concerned. And that is
why the government is not taking anything from the school fees they are
charging.
“It is very wrong to abdicate responsibilities and expect government to respond to everything.”
“People can
be so mysterious in this political era that we are now. They didn’t go
on strike when the subvention was increased from 55 million to 83
million naira.”
However, the spokesperson of the institution, Soladoye Adewole, absolved the authorities of the school of responsibility.
He stated that the strike is between the union and the state government.
“They (the state government) are owing them arrears and normally there should be negotiations. So, negotiations are on.”
Mr. Soladoye
also spoke on the threat by the union members to disrupt academic
activities in the school, if their demands are not met.
“Let’s see what comes up in the future, negotiations are on and it has not broken down.”
Meanwhile,
efforts to get the reaction of the school’s NASU Chairman, Yomi Akande,
on the comment of the state government, were unsuccessful . His
telephone was switched off as at the time PREMIUM TIMES contacted.
“We are not going to call off the strike until they pay the arrears,” he earlier said in an interview with this reporter
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