Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the western Nigerian state of Ogun has assured students of polytechnics in the State that his administration would step in and help resolve the matter which made their lecturers and other senior officials embark on an industrial action.
Amosun, himself a graduate of the Ogun State Polytechnic, now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, gave the assurance, by proxy, today at his Oke Mosan, Abeokuta office.
It was at a meeting with a cross section of students from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta and the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro during a protest to register their displeasure over the continued strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics
The students yesterday staged a protest in Abeokuta which paralysed vehicular movement for over 5 hours, calling on the State governor to mediate in the conflict.
Lecturers have boycotted work in the last two months, with the students getting restless being idle at home.
Governor Amosun, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Taiwo Adeoluwa, expressed displeasure about the strike, noting that the demands being made can only be met by the Federal Government.
The Governor however assured that he would take the matter before the government at the centre for quick settlement, affirming that his administration placed a high premium on the development of education.
“Since we came, we have not taken our students for granted and we will not take you for granted. As a government, we have always applied about 25% of our budget to education because to us, education is key to development. Your demands are clearly beyond us, but as you have requested, we will take your case to the Federal Government because we are also not happy about the development”. Amosun remarked
Speaking earlier on behalf of the students, Mallam Abdulghaffar Adeleye lamented the insensitivity of the Federal Government to their plight, noting that issues that warranted the strike bothered mainly on the demand for better funding of polytechnics in the country.
“We have been at home for 64 days now. It is regrettable to note the insensitivity of the Federal Government to the plights of these polytechnic staff, perhaps not taking into cognizance the number of students who are presently idle at home and might be used to perpetrate evils of various kinds”, the students leader said.
Adeleye said they decided to approach the governor for his intervention, regardless of the nature of the issue involved because of the attention which his government had been giving to matters relating to educational development in the State.
“We know this issue is beyond the State Governor, but we believe Governor Amosun values education and being a polytechnic graduate himself, he will help us in resolving this matter between our schools and the Federal Government”, he said.
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