The
Chairman of the Non- Academic Staff Union of College of Education,
College of Education, Ilorin, Mr. Najeem Anas, on Wednesday, said that
six members of the union had died between January and June because of
financial difficulties arising from non-payment of their salary arrears.
Also workers of some Kwara State
Government owned tertiary institutions have decried the non-payment of
their salaries for about four months.
The workers who spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of victimisation told our correspondent in Ilorin,
the Kwara State capital on Wednesday, that they had not received their
salaries since March. They stated that this had subjected them to untold
hardships.
They
stated they could no longer foot the bills of their basic needs
including feeding their families, paying their children’s and
dependant’s school fees as well as their families’ medical bills.
Some of the state owned tertiary
institutions are Kwara State University; Kwara State Polytechnic;
College of Education, Ilorin; College of Education, Oro; Kwara State
College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi; Kwara State College of Arabic
and Islamic Legal Studies, and Kwara State College of Health
Technology, Offa.
The Public Relations Officer, Kwara State
Polytechnic, Ilorin, Mr. Abdulkadir Yunus, said workers of the
institution had been receiving their salaries promptly, adding that they
had been paid even their June salaries.
But our correspondent confirmed from
sources that KWASU and College of Education, Ilorin, are among the state
owned institutions that their workers are being owed.
The Head, Office of the University
Relations, KWASU, Hajia Hamidat Sulyman, when contacted said KWASU
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, would respond to our
correspondent’s enquiry. Our correspondent gathered that Na’Allah was
out of town and so his response was not forthcoming as of the time of
filing the story.
Anas alleged that the state government stopped subventions to the college since March.
He stated that the development had inflicted untold hardships on the workers.
“From January to June this year we have
lost about six of our members due to lack of funds. Some of them are on
medication and because of lack of money to buy drugs some died suddenly.
“We do record at least one death per month, though we have not recorded
any this July. As a result of that we have gone spiritual and we have
counselled one another to take things easy.”
He said the institution’s management was only able to pay them 40 per cent of their salaries for March, April, May and June.
He stated that though the non-payment
of their full salaries was affecting the morale of staff, they were
neither planning to engage in street protest, nor strike, but were still
waiting patiently for the remaining 60 per cent of their salaries for
four months to be paid.
He said NASU believed in dialogue and not
in confrontation. He added that they would continue to engage in
dialogue, hoping that by continuing on that, the state government and
the college management would reason with them and pay them.
He pleaded with the government to pay
them the outstanding salaries since the state government had received a
bailout from the Federal Government.
The Provost of the College of Education,
Ilorin, Dr. Isiaka Opobiyi, said the state government was mindful of the
critical situation the workers were faced with.
He stated that the state government was
working assiduously to address the situation and remove the plight of
the suffering workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment