Unpaid Salaries: Students Shut Oyo State Secretariat

The students of tertiary institutions owned by Oyo State Government on Thursday under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) shut down the state’s secretariat over unpaid salaries and allowances of their teachers.

The schools are currently on strike.

We gathered that the students blocked the road linking to the secretariat with placards, chanting various anti-government songs.

Confirming the protest, Moronkola Teslim, NANS leader for Oyo State, told CAMPUS REPORTER in a telephone interview that the protest was staged to call the attention of Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi to the issues affecting the state’s schools.

“The state-owned tertiary institutions’ strike has lasted for more than three months,” said Mr Teslim. “We demand that the government do the needful.”

Efforts by CAMPUS REPORTER to get the reaction of the state’s Commissioner of Information, Toye Arulogun proved abortive as he refused to respond to calls and text messages sent to him.

The affected schools are Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo-Ora; The Polytechnic, Ibadan; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa; The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; and College of Education, Lanlate.

These schools embarked on a strike for several months last year due to the non-payment of their salary arrears and reduction of government subvention to the schools to 25 per cent.