Workers at the Ogun state Government owned Moshood Abiola Polytechnic in Abeokuta (MAPOLY) have declared an indefinite strike over alleged non-payment of their salaries for the past three months by the management of the institution, which according to them has led to loss of lives of some staff
All the staff unions on campus including the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) and Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) declared the indefinite industrial action after their respective congresses held on Wednesday, where they maintained their vote of no confidence in the competence of the Rector, Dr. Adeoye Odedeji and Bursar, Mr Fatai Yekini in managing the crisis, calling for urgent intervention of Governor Dapo Abiodun to prevent further loss of their members
The unions who marched from venues of their various congresses chanting solidarity songs, blocked Administrative building of the polytechnic, decrying the poor attitude of the institution's management to the welfare of their members which had gotten to a critical stage.
Edu-Biznews was told that the Polytechnic in the past few months has recorded loss of lives of some of its members due to unpaid salaries and allowances, to take adequate care of their health conditions , citing the death of one, Mrs. Kuburat Olonade, which occurred on Saturday, 30th September, 2023 due to lack of money to attend to her health, as the most recent incident
The striking workers are agitating amongst other demands, the immediate payment of their salaries and allowances from July, 2023 till date , release of the 2019 Appointments and 2020 Promotions to members of Staff and remittance of their Pensions, CTCS and Union's deductions for over Forty-five (45) months to appropriate quarters
The workers are also demanding for
approval of Conversion & Upgrading Exercise to eligible members of staff , lamenting over what they described as the Management's financial recklessness and non - challant attitude towards staff welfare etc to mention but a few.
The unions claimed that they had written series of letters to Management on the need to prioritize the welfare of members of staff, but the Management turned deaf ears to the yearnings of the people.
The unions joint resolutions reads :
The Unions called on His Excellency, Prince Dr. Dapo Abiodun MFR, to intervene in the problems ravaging the Polytechnic, and also maintained that the VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE earlier passed on the institution's Rector, *Dr Adeoye Odedeji* and the Bursar *Mr Fatai Yekini* subsists.
"The Congress emphasized that the intervention of the governor, would restore normalcy in the Polytechnic, adding that not receiving three (3) months salaries at this time of harsh economic realities is unacceptable and uncalled for", the unions stated
Immediate action has to be taken. We the students also need Justice
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