Kunle Adelabu
It was all smiles as over 700 junior academics and non – academic staff of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), got food palliatives from the Lagos State Government.
The packs, containing 10kg of rice, 5 kg of beans and 5kg of garri, were supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ikorodu campus of the institution, on Thursday, October 26, 2023.
According information gathered, beneficiaries were restricted to all the non – academic staff on CONUNASS/CONUAtss 01 to 09 and academic staff on CONUASS 01 to 03 (i.eGraduate Assistant to Lecrturer II grades).
Beneficiaries were also mandated to collect their packs in person and with identification card, while collection by proxy was discouraged.
Speaking with some of the staff that benefitted from the gesture, they expressed happiness over the gesture.
“Appreciation is an understatement. Sir, we are overjoyed to receive such heavy packages from the government. You cannot carry the cartoon for 10minutes without putting it down to rest”, a staff, who identified himself as Gbenga, said.
“Although, the food items cannot last us for one year, but this is truly a palliative”, he added.
Another staff, who also expressed her joy, said:
“Come and see members of staff dancing yesterday at the pickup centre”, she said.
“We are happy because the package is huge and the senior staff could not comprehend why they were left out and they expressed their displeasures”, she added.
Meanwhile, some of the senior staff have been protesting what they termed discrimination against them by the government.
“Are we not patronizing the same market or petrol station with the junior staff ni, because I cannot understand the discrimination?”, a senior staff asked our reporter, rhetorically.
“Government should have made it available for all the staff without any discrimination. Like them, we buy things at higher prices and we are also affected by the subsidy removal”.
