Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
The authorities of ThePolytechnic, Ibadan on Tuesday, ordered the campuses of the institution closed, for two weeks, as a result of protracted crisis involving it and two industrial unions of the school.
The authorities of The Polytechnic, Ibadan on Tuesday, ordered the campuses of the institution closed, for two weeks, as a result of protracted crisis involving it and two industrial unions of the school.
The order came on the heel of warning action embarked upon by both the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Senior Staff Association of the school over issues bordering on retirement age and controversial tax policy of the state government.
A statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Monday by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the school, Alhaji Adewole Soladoye, explained that the closure was with immediate effect. The order, the statement added, was to prevent students from being stranded while the industrial action lasted.
But reacting to the closure, chairman of ASUP at the institution, Mr. Segun Akindele, accused the Rector, Dr. Ademola Adejumobi, of not being in control of the situation in the school as he accused the rector of incapable to checkmate the excesses of the school registrar, Alhaji Adebayo Adedokun.
His words: 'The Registrar, Alhaji Adebayo Adedokun, wrote an unsolicited memo to ASUP sometimes in 2006 and he unilaterally reduced the compulsory retirement age from 65 to 60 years," Akindele stated, pointing out that the action contradicted the compulsory retirement age of teachers, which had been in operation since 1992. He disclosed that the entitlements due to some of their colleagues that were retired compulsorily in 2005 at the age of 65 were calculated based on 60 years retirement age, making them to refund five years salaries.
The ASUP boss also accused the rector of not supporting the teachers' protest against the arbitrary 10 per cent tax imposed on them by the state government and their demand for a downward review of the tax to five per cent of their basic salary.
Deputy Rector of the institution, Mr. Nathaniel Adebayo, however, debunked the allegation by ASUP challenging them to supply concrete evidences showing that the rector had lost grip of the school.
Adebayo accused the ASUP leadership of being economical with the truth on its face-off with authorities of the institution.
'The rector is not against the lecturers enjoying their welfare packages. In fact he had facilitated series of meeting between ASUP and the government in his bid at preventing the strike. There was a meeting involving the striking unions and the polytechnic authorities yesterday (Monday) and the issue of unsolicited memo did not arise. None of the officials of the two striking unions accused the registrar of writing any memo unilaterally", Adebayo explained.
Meanwhile, students of the institution had started packing their belongings out of the main campus of the institution yesterday when Daily Sun visited the school.