Lecturers in all the Osun state-owned tertiary institutions yesterday resumed their suspended strike.
The affected institutions are Osun State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke; Osun State College of Education, Ilesa and Osun State Colleges of Education, Ila-Oragun and Ilesa respectively.
According to the lecturers, under the auspices of Council of Academic Staff Union of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI) in a statement signed by their Chairman, Comrade L.A Jimoh, Secretary, Comrade E.O Lana, and Comrade Dotun Omisore, Public Relations Officer, respectively, the resumed strike was as a result of the failure of Osun state government to fulfill its agreement to the lecturers.
In the statement, they said were left with no other option than to resume the strike, saying that “we are left with no other option than to resume the suspended strike to press our demands.”
The statement said: “We demand that payment of salary and remittance of deduction be done simultaneously without delay as this unnecessary delay adds additional burden on bank loans taken by various member of our union on the loans attract fines and extra interest that are eventually born by beneficiaries of such loans.”
They lamented the acute shortage of staff in all the institutions and the non-full implementation of the Consolidated Salary Structure (CONPCASS).
The lecturers, in the statement, gave their demands to include the implementation of 65years retirement age currently in operation in all tertiary institutions in the country, the alleged remittance of 7.5 per cent of employee salary and 7.5 per cent from government to the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) which they claim was irregularly pilling up to several months, in contravention of the Pension Reform Act.
“Where do retirees go for their retirement benefits when their pension contributions are not fully remitted to their Retirement Savings Account (RSA) and the Retirement Benefit Bond (covering years of service prior to commencement of contributory pension scheme) is not in place?”
