Lecturers protest nonpayment of nine months salary

The Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State-Owned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI), on Monday staged peaceful protest over nonpayment of nine months’ salary by the state government.

The lecturers, comprising members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Staff Union, stormed the state House of Assembly Osogbo, singing solidarity and war songs.

Addressing the legislators, the Chairman of CASUOSTI Mr Lasis Jimoh, said it was painful that lecturers in the state had not been paid in the last nine months.

He accused the government of not remitting loan deduction from their salaries to banks, adding that the government had not also remitted their contributory pension since September 2013.

In an 11-page letter entitled `Save Our Soul,’ delivered to the House, Jimoh solicited the intervention of the legislature to resolve the crisis.

Also speaking, Mr Olusegun Lana, the Secretary of CASUOSTI, told the legislators that the only condition for the lecturers to return to classrooms was for government to pay their salaries.

Responding on behalf of the Speaker, the Chief Whip, Mr Folorunsho Bamisayemi, assured the striking lecturers that the House would look into the issue.

He commended them for their peaceful conduct and urged them to be patient as efforts would be made to resolve the issue.