The students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan Oyo State, have accused the management of the institution and the Oyo State Government of politicising their resumption, saying the indifference exhibited by the two authorities over the lingering strike by the workers of the institution, has left so much to be desired.
They argued that inspite of the fact that the strike action had negatively affected the 2017/2018 academic activities at the institution, both the management and the state government had failed to handle the matter with all the seriousness it deserved.
Workers of the six tertiary institutions owned by the Oyo State Government, including those of the Ibadan Polytechnic, had on November 3, 2017, embarked on an indefinite strike action over 15 months unpaid salary arrears.
The affected institutions are: The Polytechnic, Ibadan; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology; The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa; The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki, and the College of Education, Lanlate.
A member of the Student Union Government of the Ibadan Poly, who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told our correspondent that last December, the management of the six affected schools met with the state government over the crisis, but the meeting was inconclusive as both sides could not agree on certain issues.
He said, “In January 2018, one of the striking schools, The Polytechnic Ibadan, secretly met with the state government to opt out of the strike action because they have funds to pay their striking lecturers from their internally generated revenue through a special programme called DPP- Daily Part Time Programme.
“This programme is different from the regular full time programme and regular part time, which students run on a daily basis in the morning and evening. The students who go through this programme don’t get mobilised for the NYSC. The students undergoing the DPP programme pay heavy tuition fee, which is shared between the management of the institution and the Oyo State Government and this has tremendously boosted the institutions revenue.”
The source noted that in a bid to keep raking in revenue from the DPP programme, the management of the school decided to reopen the school, promising that they would pay all outstanding arrears of the lecturers so that admission and registration activities of new students for the fulltime, part time and the DPP could commence with the aim of making money.
Another student of the polytechnic, who also pleaded not to be named, told our correspondent that the arrangement by the school to opt out of the strike was only to cover academic staff so that lectures could start. But this didn’t go down well with the trade unions, including the Non-Academic Staff Union, the Senior Staff Association and the Joint Action Committee, who disrupted the re-opening of the school on January 8, 2018.
He added, “We all know that the DPP programme is what is keeping our school alive, such that they want to sideline other workers in school from getting money from it. If the NASU would not be benefitting from the revenue, then it is very unfair of our school management. If they really want to settle and call off the strike, they should settle with all concerned stakeholders of the institution and not favour a particular group.
“We, the students, are actually tired of sitting at home doing nothing, especially in a new year. But the school authorities should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and let everybody, be it academic staff or non-academic staff, continue with their work. Their demands remain payment of 15 months’ salary arrears and restoration of 100 per cent salary payment. Getting 25 per cent and payment of fractional salary is illegal. If the government has failed to meet to their demands, then the school that feels they can meet up should do so.”
The General Secretary of the Student Union Governing Council of the institution, Mr. Dosu Bakare, told our correspondent that the issue of failed resumption could not be addressed by him, but the registrar of the school as he was not in a position to talk on the matter.
He noted that it’s true that the school was scheduled to resume on Jan 8, 2018, but the NASU and other parties aborted the resumption because they claimed that their 15months’ salaries had not been paid.
The student union leader said this had made the school to still remain under lock and key.
Bakare, however, noted that there was nothing illegal about the programme being run by the institution.
“What I can only say about that is that you know out of all the Oyo State institutions, The Polytechnic Ibadan is the mother of them all. So, it won’t be alright to still be on strike so that other schools will cooperate and start work. The strike is not about the DPP programme. The DPP programme is just like the normal part time programme run in the school,” he said.
Efforts by our correspondent to get the reactions of the Rector of the institution, Prof. Olatunde Fawole, proved abortive as all calls made to his phone didn’t go through. Also, text messages sent to his phone as at the time of filing this report were not
replied.
