Institutions give Kogi govt conditions for calling off industrial action
It is good news for parents and students as the Kogi state government owned tertiary institutions reopen soon after four months of strike following nonpayment of salaries of both academic and nonacademic staff for over 15 months.
The Joint Action Committee of Tertiary institutions’ unions in the state had decided to suspend its four months old strike after series of negotiation with the Governing Councils of the institutions over the weekend.
In a communique signed by Comrades Moses Balogun and Joel Awodi,chairman and Secretary respectively said the move is to give government benefit of doubt in addressing some of their pending demands.
JAC said they will suspend the industrial action after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the various Governing councils of the tertiary institutions on Wednesday.
“We are giving government an ultimatum of two weeks to settle the outstanding arrears
to all tertiary institutions in Kogi state. Government must pay all our workers that have worked for the various months, anyone found guilty should be brought to book” JAC noted.
“The, uncleared, 2015 workers and sabbatical should be addressed in one week, while Policy statement and others must be attended before the expiration of the second week. If government fails to honor, then we’ll resume the suspended strike action” JAC said
JAC condemned the intimidation of its members at the College of Education Technical Kabba by security operatives warning overzealous management not to cause pandemonium across the state.
The communiqué read that there are institutions where they issue certificate every seven to ten years requesting governing councils to verify certificate of affected staff.
The state chairman Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Onuh Edoka, in his address commended the JAC of various tertiary institutions for the struggle for their members during this course.
Edoka tagged the solidarity as the most successful in the history of Nigeria adding that the struggle has distinguished them from the crowd.
