The workers of Mashood Abiola Polytechnic in Abeokuta under the umbrella of Joint Action Congress of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have dragged the school management to heed to their yearnings, and called for the Intervention of the State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
The Union, at its Congress held on Wednesday, 4th October, 2023 deliberated amongst other issues the attitude of the Polytechnic’s Management to the welfare of staff.
In what could be described as concise but action oriented deliberations, the Staff were seen marching from the venue of the Congress to the Administrative blocks of the Institution, chanting solidarity songs to agitate for their rights as listed below:
1. Non-payment of salaries and allowances since July, 2023.
2. Non – release of the 2019 Appointments and 2020 Promotions to members of Staff.
3. Non remittance of Pensions, CTCS and Union’s deductions for over Forty-five (45) months.
4. Non – approval of Conversion & Upgrading Exercise to eligible members of staff.
5. Management’s financial recklessness and non – challant attitude towards staff welfare etc to mention but a few.
Before now, the Unions have written series of letters to Management on the need to prioritize the welfare of members of staff but all to no avail, as it turned deaf ears to the yearnings of the people.
Suffice to state that the Polytechnic in the past few months have recorded loss of lives of some of its members due to lack of money to take adequate care of their health conditions, the most recent which was the demise of “Mrs. Kuburat Olonade” on Saturday, 30th September, 2023 due to lack of money to attend to her health.
The Congress therefore called on His Excellency, Prince Dr. Dapo Abiodun MFR, to kindly intervene in the problems ravaging the Polytechnic, and also maintained the VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE earlier passed in the Rector and Bursar of the Polytechnic. His Excellency’s intervention, the Congress noted, would restore normalcy in the Polytechnic, adding that not receiving three (3) months salaries at this time of harsh economic realities is unacceptable and uncalled for.