WAVES OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS IN OYO STATE TERTIARY INSTITUTION FURTHER UNDERSCORE THE INSENSITIVITY AND IRRESPONSIBILITY OF SENATOR AJIMOBI/APC-LED GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE

*Striking workers must begin to organize activities like protest, symposia, rally to build the sympathy and support for their demands!
**Parents, students and general public must prevail on the Ajimobi/APC-led government to accede to the demands of the striking workers!!
 

Press Statement

The socialist party of Nigeria, SPN, Oyo State Chapter describes the waves of lingering industrial actions that have crippled both the academic and administrative activities across the Oyo State owned tertiary institutions as a sign of high level of insensitivity and irresponsibility of Senator Ajimobi/APC-led government in the state. Therefore, the party urges the striking workers to remain resolute, steadfast and begin to organize activities like protests, symposia, and rallies across the state with a view to build the sympathy and support of parents, students and general public in order to prevail on the Ajimobi/APC-led government to accede to their demands.
 

Since Friday June 22, 2018, the entire workers in the four out of the six tertiary institutions fully owned by the Oyo State has decided to resume an industrial action which was suspended on February 1, 2018 following an agreement signed with the Oyo State government on the January 31, 2018. Through this agreement, the Oyo State-led government made a commitment to release funds to clear the arrears of workers’ salaries that range from 8 to 24 months. Other commitment made by the Oyo State in the said agreement is to increase the subvention to all the institutions in order to guarantee smooth running of their activities. It must be noted that this subvention has since the inception of Ajimobi-led government been slashed to 25% of pre-Ajimobi-led government amount.
 

More than six months after this agreement is signed, workers across the six tertiary institutions are still owed salaries arrears while there is yet to be sign that Ajimobi-led government is prepare or ready to increase the subvention. Again, since the commencement of this strike, senator Ajimobi-led government has not only refused to create an avenue to attend to the grievances of the striking workers but has also attempted to blackmail the striking workers by giving an impression that his government is not to be blamed for the plights of the striking workers.
 

It is this attitude of the Ajimobi-led government which we describe as high level of insensitivity and irresponsibility that eventually compelled workers in The Polytechnic, Ibadan and The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, to join the strike on the 10 August, 2018 and 20 July, 2018 respectively. Situation in LAUTECH, which is partly owned by Oyo and Osun State, two APC controlled states, has not fared better. At present, academic activities in LAUTECH has been placed on hold since 6 August, 2018 owing to a two week warning strike embarked upon by Academic staff of the institution. This is also in connection with the failure of both the Oyo and Osun state to honour the agreement signed with the union prior to suspension of their 6 month industrial action in 2017
 

SPN condemns in totality the act of owing workers a month salary let alone salary arrears that range from 8 to 24 months, at the same time, frowns at the act of cutting down subvention to any percentage by Senator Ajimobi-led government. We believe that education is a social responsibility of the government which means that it is compulsory for any government to always ensure that it is adequately and properly funded irrespective of whether or not each of the educational institution has the capacity to generate revenue internally. Without the government being prevailed upon to increase its funding on education students will always at the risk of being charged fees that will always beyond the reach of the poor and working class parents. Already, this has been exemplified by the situation in LAUTECH where the school governing council has just approved school fee that range from N250, 000 to N300, 000 undertaking undergraduate programmes.
 

SPN condemns this increment and call for immediate reversal! However, to forestall the repeat and spread of this trend of incessant increment in fees across the other Oyo State-owned tertiary institutions will require the need for students, parents and general public to lend a support to the striking workers in these institutions to demand proper and adequate funding of the institutions.
The claim that there are no enough financial resources to adequately and properly fund public education is not true! There are more than enough resources at the disposal of the state that can guarantee adequate and proper funding of public education in the state. The reason these huge resources continue to fail to reflect in any improvement in the quantity and quality of public education in the state is the misappropriation and financial corruption by members of the ruling class both in government and business in the state.
 

Huge proportion of the resources that are meant to fund public education and other social services are often shared through bloated salaries/allowances and inflated contracts among the political office holders and their acolytes in business. It is in a bid to bring an end to this tradition of impunity among the political class that SPN calls on the striking workers, students and parents of the affected institution to echo its age-long demands which include an end to the inglorious regime of security vote, corrupt contract system while ensuring that money liberated from this measure is massively invested in social services like education, health etc and public infrastructure through a public work programme placed under a democratic control of a committee of workers and members of the community. This is very important because inflation of contracts has been one of the ways through which politicians and big business siphon public money under contract system. 
 

In conclusion, SPN holds that, workers in education sector should begin to realize that the struggle for adequate funding of education and improvement in workers' wages has to be linked with the necessity of a pro- masses government that can commit society's resources to provide free and functional education and guarantee decent living standards to all categories of working people. This will involve building a genuine, mass-based fighting workers political party committed to leading the working people to achieve its historical task of taking over political power from the capitalist ruling class and establishing a workers and poor people’s government with socialist plan of production which is the only society that can guarantee the provision of a free and functional education for all Nigerians

Comrade Kolapo Oladapo                                   Comrade Ayodeji Adigun
(08032282084)                                                      08034817064 
State Chairperson                                                State Secretary