When two elephants are in a tug of war, the grass they say are those that will suffer for it, Which brings about the commencement of an industrial action between the Non-academic staff union and the School management of Federal Polytechnic Ede Osun State.
This strike which today marks the 8th day of its kickoff has been a serious concern to all the students most especially the stalites (some started their exams a day before the strike started) in the institution.
Now, two heads/elephants are in a serious disagreement, the students who knows nothing about what could have prompted the disagreement are the victim who suffers for the cause and are being kept at home doing nothing. The management is also happy to waste the students’ time because they know they can’t do anything.
The major concern of the students are those who have spent 4 years obtaining Ordinary National Diploma and those who have spent 3 good years just to obtain their Higher National Diploma (HND) could not have the courage to face either of them because they don’t want to spend another extra year which the management threatened to give them if they raise any alarm about it.
Recently a student posted an article on Facebook page of the institution, the article caught the attention of the management and they ordered for the arrest of the student and was detained in the police custody for more than 24hrs just because the student expressed his mind concerning what was going on in the institution.
The school management increased the School fees, some students went for a peaceful protest just to know the reason why the fees was increased they were all beaten by the security and sent back home of which we were all forced to pay the increased fees.
Another issue occurred of which #5000 was added for students who failed to pay their school fees on time and those who could not complete their registration on time. The student also went for a peaceful protest just for the school to reduce the amount but all their peaceful effort landed some of them in police custody
All these were happening before the strike commenced, of which during the strike, precisely last week, the chairman of the school management was summoned by the EFCC officials and he denied everything saying he didn’t increase the sch fees neither did he added #5000 for the late registration
The reason for this ongoing strike by the NASU was because of the CONTISS 15 arrears the federal government promised all federal polytechnics to give them of which the lecturers in the institution could testify that their colleagues in other institutions had received theirs but federal polytechnic Ede management failed to implement that on their own salary instead they are been paid half of their salary since January up till this moment.
After the collection of the late registration fee of #5000, they were all expectant that the implementation would start but to their amazement, nothing of such pop up so they decided to start the strike.
I believe all these are happening because there is no Student Union Government (SUG) in the institution and the School management is not ready to reinstate the union because they are scared that they would not have a say anytime they try to trample on our interest just to fulfill their own selfish interest We now come to realize that with all this waste of time, if we eventually graduate at last, we won’t be relevant in the labour market again having issues with age barrier.
Please on behalf of the students of Federal Polytechnic Ede Osun State I humbly call for the intervention of the federal government and all other educational parastatals to please save us from what we can call slavery.
Anytime we are pushed to talk we will either be arrested or been threatened to be expelled and everyone of us is afraid of spending an extra year when all our mates are already in service, some have even started working.
All the students are ready to support and follow up with the federal government and be at your call for any verification about what is going on in the institution.
On this note, We call on the federal government to please help us look into the man’s (rector precisely) case and check how he has managed to make money from our school fees (both from daily part time students and regular part time students), the stress of our parents and some of us who work to sponsor ourselves in school, yet at the detriment of our glorious future, do what he likes to delay our precious time
We also want the SUG to be back so we can be able to relay our mind to the school and other federal bodies
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