Striking non-academic workers of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) have urged the state Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to institute a panel of inquiry into the administration and finances of the polytechnic in the last four years.
Mr Semiu Fasasi, Chairman, Non Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP), LASPOTECH Chapter, and spokesman for the other affected unions, made the call at a media briefing on Wednesday in Lagos.
Fasasi said that Sanwo-Olu should urgently come to the aid of the institution to prevent its fall.
He said that the unions were against the current Rector, Mr Samuel Sogunro’s administration because of highhandedness, maladministration and financial recklessness.
He alleged that N750 million accreditation fund released by the state government to the institution was mismanaged and misappropriated to the extent that the staff were made to contribute money to finance the 2018 accreditation exercise.
The union leader claimed that the student’s practical laboratories lacked necessary materials, compelling students to resort to alternative to practicals or theory of practicals.
“In the last four years of the Sogunro-led administration, LASPOTECH had lost all that is good about it – academic excellence, staff welfare, conducive work environment and good students/staff relationship, among others.
“In view of these rot, we demand the removal of the entire Sogunro-led management and dissolution of the Polytechnic 11th Governing Council for enduring peace to be achieved in LASPOTECH,” he said.
Fasasi said that the unions were hopeful of success in their over five months’ old strike which, he said, was for liberation from dictatorial management.
He alleged that following the unions’ commitment to the struggle, the management had not stopped at victimising them.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of NASUP and Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnic (SSANIP), LASPOTECH, Chapter had since Jan. 21 embarked on an indefinite strike to press home some demands.
The union said that the strike was to demand a reversal in the de-migration of the Polytechnic’s workers’ salary structure from CONTISS 15.
Following the development, non-academic activities have been grounded in the institution and a vote of no confidence passed on the current management.
The polytechnic management has, however, said it did not de-migrate the staff as claimed but only corrected a realignment of the salary structure as directed by the state government.
It said the need arose because the management of the polytechnic was forced by the unions to implement the migration in 2016, while the document presented for implementation was later discovered not to emanate from the Nigeria Board for Technical Education.
-NAN
