Kwara colleges give govt 7days to meet demands

The committee of unions of tertiary institutions (CUTI), in Kwara state, has given the state government a seven-day ultimatum to commence the implementation of requests made to it by the union or be ready to face industrial action.

The committee is an umbrella body of various unions in the state-owned Colleges of Education and College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies.
The unions’ agitation was stated in a notice of ultimatum dated February 10, 2014, written to the governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, by the General Secretary of the committee, Oladele Olanipekun.

The demands, according to the statement, were “65 years of retirement age for non-teaching staff for all the institutions, computation of retirement benefits with 100 per cent CONPCASS/CONTEDISS, and full payment of salaries with 100 per cent CONPCASS/CONTEDISS salary structure.
“Migration of officers on CONPCASS/CONTEDISS 1-11 as approved by the Federal Ministry of Education/NCCE and payment of 14-month salary arrears of staffers of College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies.”

They alleged that several appeals on the need to improve infrastructure in the affected institutions, condition of service of members and full compliance with the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) minimum standard for courses had been left unattended to.
The statement said: “It is worrisome to note that the infrastructural situation of our Colleges have gone from bad to worse. This is as a result of non-funding and total neglect of these institutions over the years.

“You may wish to be informed that for about a-decade-and-half, no College has benefited from capital grant of any kind from the government. We hereby strongly request that this demand be met without further delay.
“After over six years since the state government embarked upon her reform programme in our Colleges, it is worrisome that the reform is yet to key-in into the NCCE minimum standard.”