Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union and Nigerian Polytechnic Senior Staff Association, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, on Wednesday staged a protest over the non-payment of their three months’ salary, among others.
Armed with banners with various inscriptions such as ‘Enough suffering and smiles’, ‘Minimum wage implementation’ and ‘Pay our pension deduction’, they called on the government to come to their rescue.
The workers who toured the school facilities, went to the administrative block and later blocked the entrance to the school.
They called on the Ogun state government to take over the running of the school, after the school administration failed to fulfill its mandate.
The president of SSANIP, MAPOLY chapter, Dada Olalekan, said that the workers had no future working with MAPOLY because of the way the school was being run.
Olalekan advised the state government to borrow a sheet from the state governments of Oyo, Lagos and Osun by taking over the school account and paying directly from the government.
Olalekan said: “The reason we are here is to demand our rights.
“MAPOLY management owes us three months salary as of October 2022. All other government institutions and agencies are collecting the minimum wage, MAPOLY has refused to implement the minimum wage. Management owes us 55 months of back pension.
“As I speak, no one has a pension future here. If someone retires tomorrow, there is no future or pension for that person.
“The last promotion that was done at MAPOLY was in 2019; The promotions from 2020 to 2022 are still behind, the appointment promotion has not been held since 2019, we have been surpassed by colleagues from other institutions due to promotion and appointment.
“The government should take MAPOLY into account and start paying us like it is being done in all other states like Oyo State.
“Oyo State has more higher institutions and they pay all their salaries before the 25th of every month at 100%.”
Corroborating his colleague, the president of NASU, MAPOLY branch, Kolawole Sopade said that MAPOLY is being run as a private institution where the only source of income is school fees.
He said: “The salary that we are talking about now, if we collect it, there is no guarantee that we will collect another salary in three months based on the quota that JAMB and NBTE gave us.
“If we enroll students now with the limited quota they gave us and the limited school fees they are going to pay, there is no way to survive after March or April, that is why we are asking the government to come to our aid. ”
The Polytechnic’s Public Relations Officer, Yemi Ajibola, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
