Lecturers Adamant as Kogi Tertiary Institutions Re-open

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In  defiance of the government’s directive, sfaff of the Kogi State University (KSU) and Kogi State Polytechnic (Kogi Poly) have refused to return to work since their school resumed on June 5. But their non-academic counterparts have since returned to work.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said its members would return to work when the government meets its demands.

The schools reopened after more than five months strike by state-owned tertiary institutions over non-payment of salary arrears. Six of the eight affected schools re-opened last month, but KSU and KOGI POLY remained closed until last week.

The resumption was not without drama. The academic staff described the government’s directive as a “blackmail and intimidation”, vowing not to succumb to government’s threat.

When government fixed the resumption date, the Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising the workers’ unions, held an emergency meeting, after which it issued a communiqué on June 1.

In the communiqué, signed by its leader, Comrade Sunday Boluromi, JAC said it was disappointed with the government’s directive on the re-opening of the schools while talks on workers’ demands were going on. The committee said there was no reason for the workers to resume when their living conditions had deteriorated. It said many of the workers were traumatised by the prolonged staff screening which led to the withholding of salaries for  months.

The communiqué reads: “JAC empathises with students, who have been at home for a long period. They should be reminded that JAC’s struggle is to save the soul of our education in the state. And we hope that, at the end of this painful strike, tertiary institutions owned by Kogi State would be better positioned to turn out qualified graduates.

“There are evil machinations from some quarters to incite students against our members on resumption. Let it be clear to those behind this plot that, whatever goes around comes around. JAC is disappointed with government for its decision to prematurely retire some of our members. This is an outright violation of the extant Law of 65-year retirement age for staff of tertiary institutions.

“Consequent upon the heartfelt intervention of our Governing Councils, JAC graciously constricted its 31-point request to five irreducible demands. This action is geared towards suspension of the ongoing strike. The demands are that the Visitor to our schools (Governor) should approve and implement the screening reports of the respective schools’ Governor Councils, because we have confidence in the members Governing Councils. Therefore, only their screening list is acceptable to JAC and any other list from anywhere shall be rejected.

“We want salaries of all members, whether they are cleared or not, to be paid without further delay. The government must step up actions to provide the needs of each tertiary institution as submitted by their Governing Councils. Government must also honour the joint resolution reached by its representatives and JAC on March 24, 2017, which include reversal of the new tax rates and refund of January 2017 excess tax to tertiary institutions.

“Our last demand is that, government must give definite date for the refund of excess tax collected from staff of Kogi State University and Kogi State College of Education. These are the conditions for peace and resolution of the crisis.”

JAC made a case for disengaged workers, saying it was wrong to sack them despite the “convincing reasons” by heads of institutions for their retention. The committee described the pardon lists released by the government on May 31 and June 1, as a setback to any ongoing dialogue.

JAC added: “Our members who had been cleared from the outset of the protracted staff screening exercise are now being victimised with threat of sack. This unwholesome act is another move by the cars in this government to destroy the gains made from the screening exercise.”

The workers resolved that they could not be coerced to resume on June 5. They advised the government not to resort to threat and intimidation in resolving the impasse.

The KSU chapter of ASUU, in a statement  titled: Between facts and fictions, said it would resist the government’s intimidation to coerce workers into resumption.

Its chairman, Dr Gbenga Aina, said government did not show concern towards ending the strike, adding that there was no assurance of payment of workers’ salaries.

He condemned the government’s claim that 95 per cent of salaries owed the academic staff of KSU had been paid, describing the claim as “fallacious and utterly misleading”.

Aina said: “From available records, 275 workers, which represent 53.19 per cent of the 517 academic staff, are still being owed salary arrears ranging from three to 12 months. This figure is made up of tenure, sabbatical, contract staff studying overseas and 2015 employees.”

He said only 46.81 per cent of academic employees had received salaries up to March 2017. He said the promise by the government to pay N50 million monthly to offset Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) owed was reneged on last December. This, according, negated the government’s assurance that it would increase the monthly installment of the EAA to N100 million with effect from January. He added that the outstanding payment was not captured in the state’s budget this year, wondering how the government wanted to pay the money.

The ASUU chief said: “The ASUU, as a stakeholder in  university system, is desirous to see speedy resolution of the ongoing impasse. We, therefore, call on the KSU Governing Council and the Kogi State government to ensure the payment of all arrears of salaries and their components owed all our members before the strike can be called off.”

When CAMPUSLIFE visited KSU on Monday, lecturers’ offices were locked. Students, who besieged lecture rooms, returned to their hostels in disappointment.

The Students’ Union Government (SUG) leadership convened a congress, where they called on their lecturers and government to resolve their differences in the students’ interest.

Credits: Yabagi Mohammed | Nation


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