- Give Aregbesola, Ajimobi 21 days to settle striking lecturers’ salary arrears
Students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, on Monday, protested the non-payment of their lecturers’ salaries by the Oyo and Osun state governments, the joint owners of the institution.
The angry students have, however, handed down a 21-day ultimatum to governors Abiola Ajimobi and Rauf Aregbesola to pay the workers, who had, since the last two months, embarked on strike.
Trooping out in their hundreds, the protesters had caused traffic snarl at the popular Olaiya junction in Osogbo, before marching to the state governor’s office at Abeere to express their displeasure.
According to the students, Osun and its Oyo counterpart had not paid their lecturers in the past 12 months.
They claimed that they had been subjected to hardship and idleness since the strike began.
The students, however, appealed to Aregbesoa to pay the one year-salary he’s owing the workers, while Ajimobi should settle the six-month arrears he owed the workers.
The students threatened that if the two state governors failed to meet their demands within the next 21 days, they would carry out a mass protest in Osogbo and Ibadan.
The spokesperson for the students, Eze Raymond, said the continuous strike was having negative effects on the students’ programmes.
Addressing the placards-carrying students at the Osun State Government Secretariat, the Permanent Secretary of the state ministry of Education, Festus Olajide, appealed for calm.
Olajide assured them that the situation would be looked into by the governor.
He blamed the inability of the government to pay the workers on the economic crunch in the country, saying that Governor Aregbesola was not pleased with the situation.
Meanwhile, the National Alumni body of the university has described the inability of the two states to pay their workers as unfortunate.
In a chat with our correspondent, the Alumni President, Mr Jide Bewaji, appealed to the visitors to the institution to save the future of the students by seeing to the prompt payment of the workers’ salaries and allowance
