Osun state workers furious protest

rnrnLecturers under the aegis of Council of
Academic Staff Unions ofrnOsun State Owned
Tertiary Institutions stormed the Osun
StaternHouse of Assembly to protest nonpayment
of their salaries forrnthe past eight months.rnThe
lecturers, who had been on strike for the past
three monthsrnwere led by leaders of the body
including Chairman, Lasisi Jimoh;rnSecretary
Olusegun Lana and Public Relations Officer,
DotunrnOmisore.rnrnThe lecturers, who were
armed with placards with variousrninscriptions,
were chanting, ‘Save our Souls’, ‘Enough
isrnEnough’, ‘Pay our Salaries’ and ‘We Reject
Half Salaries’, sangrnanti-government
songs.rnThey also rejected the plan of the state
government to pay halfrnsalaries while saying
they would not submit themselves to
freshrnscreening directed by the
government.rnThe irate lecturers said the plan of
the state government to payrnworkers half
salaries was shocking because the state had
receivedrnits share of the bailout fund from the
Central Bank of Nigeria.rnThe letter was signed
by the CASUOSTI Chairman, Lasisi
Jimoh;rnsecerayry, Olusegun Lana; Chairman
Academic Staff Union ofrnPolytechnic, Iree, Dotun
Omisore; ASUP chairman, Esa Oke,rnAdesola
Akande; COEASU Ila-Orangun Chairman, Segun
Onifadernand COEASU Ilesa Chairman, Oladele
Ojo.rnrnThe Chief Whip of the House of
Assembly, Mr. FolorunshornBamisayemi, while
addressing the protesters appealed to them
tornexercise patience, saying efforts were
underway to ensure theirrndemands were
met.rnrnHowever, the Speaker, Mr. Najeem Salam,
after after spendingrnsome minutes with the
protesters walked out on them.rnThe Secretary of
the council, who spoke with our
correspondent,rnsaid lecturers had been on strike
for the past months withoutrngovernment seeking
to negotiate with them.rnLana said, “We came to
the House of Assembly to submit SavernOur
Souls letter. The protest went well until the
Speaker walkedrnout on us.rnrn” The state
government has not been remitting pension
deductionsrnfrom our salaries to our Pension
Fund Administrators, this isrnagainst the law. The
deductions are supposed to be remittedrnseven
days after salaries are paid but this is not
happening.”rnLana also stated that the
institutions were understaffed and thernfew
lecturers were overburdened despite not being
paid for manyrnmonths.