The industrial action embarked upon by teaching and non-teaching staff of Osun State-owned tertiary institutions has grounded activities in the schools while the students and their parents are weighed down by its effect. Adewale Ajayi in this report captures the view of the lecturers and the students.UNLESS there is a decision to shift ground either by the staff of Osun State tertiary institutions or the state government, the industrial action embarked upon by lecturers of the state-owned tertiary institutions and the non-teaching staff might cripple the educational sector in the state.The industrial action which has been on for close to three months has had adverse effects on the students, who have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction over the development. According to the state chairman of Joint Campus Committee (JCC), Comrade Abosede Seun, the nonchalant attitude of the state government to the demands of the lecturers is at the expense of the students' career because the strike would further delay their stay in their schools. They have accused the state government of being unbothered by the demands of the lecturers, adding that this has caused the industrial action's protraction.According to a release signed by him, the crisis would have been resolved if government had been sensitive to the plight of the students and considered their interest. 'We feel that the government has not done enough to persuade the lecturers to go back to class or meet their demands, on our part as students, we are tired of being at the receiving end of this tussle because our future is being mortgaged.'One of the demands of the lecturers is better condition of service for themselves, which includes increment in their salary. They have accused the state government of not being interested in implementing the Consolidated Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS), which they claim is long overdue. They also stated that while other states in the federation have begun the implementation and are already three steps ahead because it is subject to periodic review, Osun State is yet to make any move in that direction.Speaking further on their demands, the Public Relations Officer of the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State-owned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI), Mr Olabisi Ige, said the lukewarm attitude of the state govern-ment to their demands would only compound the problem because out of the demands presented before the government none had been met.Mr Ige said their demands included putting an end to the reversal of staff on salary grade level 15 to 14 upon retirement from service, payment of seven per cent peculiar academic allowance, new salary package of CONTISS 2007 and CONPOCASS 2009, and that lecturers retirement age should be pegged at 65 years as approved by the Federal Government and National Board For Technical Education (NBTE) and there should be better staff welfare.The lecturers also want contributions to their pension scheme, which had been deducted from their salary since May 2010, remitted to their pension scheme, adding that the state-owned institutions should be granted autonomy.The PRO added that many a times the state issued directives to regulate the running of the institutions without seeking first the views of the management of the institutions.On steps taken so far to reach a compromise with the state government, Ige saidno truce had been reached because the state government had been uncooperative.He explained that penultimate Tuesday they had a meeting with the representatives of the government, which comprised the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Sunday Akere, but the meeting ended in a stalemate because what the government offered as increment was far below what they were demanding from her. He said while they demanded for the implementation of CONPOCASS 1, though other state-owned institutions had started operating CONPOCASS 2, the state government was offering 20 per cent increment on CONTISS which was lower to what others were earning in states where the new salary scale had been implemented .Ige said until the state government yielded to their request, the strike would continue.Like the adage, when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers, the students are at the receiving end of the industrial action as they have become despondent, because many of them who ought to have graduated are much disturbed by the development.According to Ajayi Romoke and Emmanuel Jamiu of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, they are not happy about what is happening because since the school was closed they have been loafing around.Some of the students have resorted to menial jobs rather than being idle at home. Opeyemi Blessing, who runs a sandwich programme of the University of Uyo at the Osun State College of Education, Ila campus, said she was fed up with the entire development because it was the same set of lecturers who teach the students of the college of education also teach her and unless the strike was called off, she could not resume classes. She noted that ordinarily the industrial action should not have affected her studies if not that her university was using the college for its lectures.She stressed that rather than loaf around, she and some of her colleagues had taken up some menial jobs pending the time the problem the lecturers were having with the state government would be resolved.The industrial action has also affected the non-teaching staff because they also are not relenting in their demand for a good condition of service.Speaking on behalf of the state government, the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, said that government had started negotiating with the striking workers with the hope that they would go back to work very soon and that the state government was equally disturbed over the protracted strike action in the state-owned tertiary institutions.Parents are also not happy about the development because they are of the view that the government and the staff of the institutions do not care about the future of their children.According to Mrs Emmanuela Ajayi, making the students idle is not a good thing because being idle might lure them into ungodly activities. She is particularly worried about the female students because some of them might end up being impregnated, since they are left at home doing nothing. 'Some young men might capitalise on this strike to lure them into immoral affairs that might result in pregnancy,' she said.Speaking in the same vein, Mr Ayoola Ayotunde said the parents were made to bear the brunt of the industrial action embarked upon by the teaching and non-teaching staff of the institutions because they would end up spending extra money on the children while the industrial action lasted.
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