Osun lecturers protest 16 months unpaid salaries, to down tools


Lecturers at the four tertiary institutions owned by the Osun State Government have given managements of their various institutions strike notice over unpaid salaries and other issues.

It was gathered that the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, had been scheduled to start its industrial action on Friday (today).

The Chairman, Osun State College of Education Academic Staff Union, Ilesa, Mr Olusegun Lana, who led other lecturers in a protest march on the college premises on Thursday, said the state government had refused to fulfil its part of the agreement reached with lecturers.

Lana, who is also the chairman of the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions, said the Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, would start its strike action on August 7, adding that the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, would commence its strike action on August 8, while the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, would start on August 15.

Lana said the strike would be total because lecturers could no longer afford transport fares to their workplaces, while members of their families were finding it difficult to feed due to the issue of modulated salaries which had lasted for 34 months.