In the last two days at the College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti, academic activities have been paralyzed as the institution’s workers protest over the non-payment of their eight-month salary arrears.
The protest, which started on Monday, continued yesterday as the angry workers chanted solidarity songs and blocked the college’s main gate.
The protest was spearheaded by members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) but was joined by members of the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).
he workers accused the Provost, Prof. Mojisola Oyarekua, of allegedly holding on to three months salaries they claimed was released by the state government to offset part of the arrears.
The Monday protest lasted about three hours during which the workers prevented vehicles from going in and coming out of the campus.
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While the protesters allowed students into the campus, no worker was given access.
The action has disrupted the second semester examination that was supposed to start on Monday.
But the protest assumed a frightening dimension yesterday when the workers shut the gate and tied palm fronds to it as a sign that “the place was a no-go area”.
Many of them carried placards and fresh branches of plants.
They sang: “Iya yi to, iya yi too, iya yi to Jesu ko ba wa lara mu” (This suffering is enough, it is enough, it is enough Jesus, it is unpalatable); “Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, we shall always fight for our rights”; “Awon to n ni wa lara Baba, ni won lara O” (Father, oppress our oppressors), among others.
Some of their placards read: “We are dying of hunger, pay our salaries”; “No salaries, no exam”; “A Labourer deserves his wages”; “Madam Provost, pay our salaries”; “Denying workers of their rights is cruel,” among others.
The workers said they would not resume at their duty posts until they received salary alerts.
Addressing reporters during the protest, NASU Secretary Wale Animasaun said the decision for the action was reached at a congress held last Wednesday in which the college management was given up till last Friday to pay their salaries or face a mass action.
Animasaun said the protest was not against the Ayo Fayose administration but against the college management, led by Oyarekua.
He said: “The governor has released three months out of the salary arrears owed us, but the college management has refused to pay us. They used to give us net pay, but they have even refused to pay anything.
“This is despite the fact that they are generating revenue from other sources, like the N2,500 each candidate pays as post-UTME fee, reparation fee students paid during the last riot and other miscellaneous fees.
“We, the workers of College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti, are suffering. We will not allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to deny us of our legitimate rights.
“This protest will continue until our demands are met. The exam that supposed to start on Monday (November 6) will be on hold. We want to plead with students to show understanding with us.”
But Prof Oyarekua denied receipt of three months salaries from the state government.
The provost maintained that the college authorities had not received any subvention from the state government.
She said: “The allegation (of holding on to three-month salaries) is not true. In fact, I am embarrassed by the allegation because we have
not got any subvention from the government.
“A particular union is behind the latest crisis in the college. People are free to go and verify from the office of the Accountant General on the situation of things. We have not got any subvention from the government.”
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