On Wednesday, the non-teaching staff of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, protested against the non-payment of their salaries for 11 months.

They organised the protest under the aegis of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP).

They sang solidarity songs and marched to the Administrative Block of the institution to convey their grievances to the polytechnic management.

Addressing journalists at the end of the event, the chairman of SSANIP, Nafiu Okoro, said the institution’s governing council should be held responsible for the infrastructure decay in the polytechnic.

Mr Okoro said the workers were working but were hungry due to the management’s insensitivity to their complaints about paying their salaries and emoluments.

He further said the polytechnic workers had been on irregular salary payments for over eight years.

According to him, the two unions have decided to take the bull by the horns by embarking on an indefinite strike, starting from January 2, 2024, if all their salary arrears were not paid.

Mr Okoro also appealed to the Ondo government to include the polytechnic workers in the N35,000 wage award to workers in the state.

He said the workers no longer had confidence in the leadership of Olubunmi Omoniyi-led governing council of the institution.

Mr Okoro further said it was pitiable and disturbing that the workers could not provide for their respective families due to financial constraints orchestrated by non-payment of their salaries.

He also mentioned that the two unions in the institution had lost many of their members because they could not access basic things to sustain

themselves and their families.

He urged the government to release funds to the school’s management to offset their salary arrears to show it is sensitive to the plight of the polytechnic workers.

Mr Okoro added that the union was happy the polytechnic was approved for upgrade to a university and appealed to the Ondo government to ensure that the polytechnic workers also transitioned to the university workers.

Reacting to the protest, the polytechnic’s spokesman, Samuel Ojo, said that unions had the right to protest to show their grievances.

Mr Ojo, however, asked the protesters to give more room for negotiations between them and the management.

( NAN)