The academic and non-academic staff of Ibarapa Polytechnic on Wednesday began an indefinite strike to protest the non-payment of their salaries by the Oyo State Government.
The workers, under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics and Non-Academic Staff Union, said that apart from the non-payment of their salaries, they were also expressing their displeasure over poor welfare in the school and non-accreditation of courses.
Also, lecturers of the institution under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, held a congress the same day where it was resolved that they would join the strike to ensure its effectiveness.
Before now, four other tertiary institutions owned by the state had been on strike. They are Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate; Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; and Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology.
SSANIP secretary, Joseph Titiloye, said the union resolved to go on strike at its last congress. He accused the school management of using promotion criteria alien to the workers.
He said, “This year, our management commenced the implementation of the promotion criteria which would not benefit our members. We demanded moratorium but the management remained adamant. We have written several letters to them without response. We also wrote to the governing council and the case was referred back to the management.”
Chairman NASU in the school, John Ojedokun, said the school faced difficulty to survive because the state starved it of financial backing while also accusing members of the school governing board of mismanaging the revenue generated internally.
