Osun Public Tertiary Institutions are all on Strike

All public tertiary institutions in Osun State, both Federal and State Government-owned, are currently on strike. There are up to seven tertiary institutions in Osun State, which include: Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State Polytechnic (OSPOLY), Iree, Osun State College of Education and Technology (OSCOTECH), Esa-Oke,  Osun State Colleges of Education in Ilesa and Ila-Orangun; the Osun State University; and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede.OAU was shut over students protest against hike in fees, the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, has been part of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic’s nationwide strike that has dragged on for over 240 days, while the State Government-owned institutions are on strike because the Rauf Aregbesola government is yet to meet their five-point demands. The requests, the workers say, border on pension scheme, retirement age policy, shortage of lecturers, completion of balance of 10 per cent salary scale and poor state of infrastructure in schools.

Beyond the crises in the two federal institutions, industrial action dogs many of the other public institutions in the state. In fact, their gates have remained shut for more than four months as their workers are at loggerheads with the state government.