Osun students’ rage, a message to governors

MOST Osun State students were eager to return to school to commence the 2015/2016 Academic Session, upon completion of the recently ended long vacation.

But while they looked forward to a great reunion with friends, classmates and teachers, as well as the commencement of a new academic session, the state government had something in different in offing for them. They were to furnish their teachers with three-year tax clearance certificates to validate their parents as tax-paying citizen

On the first day, those that were not in possession of these documents were barred from classes. As the exercise continued the following day, the students snapped and took matters into their hands.

Seldom do secondary school students in the country organise themselves for a face-off with their state governments. But Osun State secondary school students resorted to that, as a way of showing the state government that they disapprove of a situation where their parents and guardians were taken for granted. Consequently, they marched to the state secretariat to vent their spleen over government’s insensitivity.

At the secretariat, their spokesperson while addressing the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyediran, expressed displeasure that they were being sent out of school for two days running, by the school authorities, at the behest of the state government, for their failure to produce on demand, their parents’ tax clearance certificate.

“Our teachers are humiliating us because they are not paid their salaries. So their salaries should be paid because they also have their children, who are also going to school, and whom they are expected to feed,” he informed the bewildered government official.

“We are ready to settle down and read our books, so, the state government should urgently pay our teachers and parents their salaries. We do not have any N4, 500 to pay,” spokesperson of the students stated.

The new tax regime of the state government mandates an adult artisan to pay N1, 500 yearly as tax. The students were expected to present documents of three years of payment, beginning from 2013. This amounts to N4, 500.

The evidence of tax payment was also demanded from students resuming in new schools in the state.

Oyediran in his response informed the agitated students: “The tax clearance certificate is to be collected by your parents or your guardians. It is only the receipts that we request from you, but since it is generating tension now, I want to plead with you to please go back peacefully to your schools.

He added, “Government is prepared to pay salaries to all deserving workers. So, please, go back to your schools because I have heard you and I will tender all your requests to Mr. Governor.”

Having being begged to return to their classrooms by the government, public secondary school students in the state may have scored a point, which their counterparts in other parts of the country may find handy, in the event of their respective state governments resorting to the institution of such abhorrent policies that negate their right to education.

Demanding of students, their parents’ tax clearance certificates before they are allowed into classrooms, at a time the governor is suffering from severe battered image, over his inability to pay civil servants salaries, for nearly a year, analysts say, amounts to an irresponsible and cowardly act masterminded by the state governor, and a policy that should have never been contemplated.

However, to further confirm the fact that it is obviously not a good time for Aregbesola and his team, students of the state-owned tertiary institutions apparently buoyed by the performance of their junior colleagues, two days after took their fate into their hands and besieged the state secretariat to protest the continued strike action embarked upon by their lecturers due to non-payment of their salaries.

The protesters included students of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke; Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, and Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun.

During the protest, which lasted several hours and grounded activities at the secretariat and the Governor’s Office, the protesting students called on the governor to pay their lecturers their salaries so that they could go back to classrooms .

The protesters included students of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, Osun State College of Education, Ilesha and Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun.

Regional leaders of NANS Awowole Samuel and Adekitan Lukman said the protest was embarked on because the ugly situation was jeopardising their education.

The students, who claimed that the governor had totally neglected the education sector said, “The indefinite strike has been on since June 11th 2015.  And we have used every peaceful means to appeal to the Osun State government to find a lasting solution to problem. Sadly enough, since the strike commenced till this present moment, the government of Osun has done nothing reasonable to persuade the lecturers to go back to work and this shows that the present government has no concrete plan for the education sector.”

The students, who discountenanced the Education Ministry’s permanent secretary who attempted to address them, prevented the Deputy Governor/Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, and her convoy, from gaining access to the premises for barely one hour.

When she was finally allowed to speak, Layoye-Tomori said, “The governor sympathises with you and we feel the same way you feel. We have been negotiating with your lecturers. The governor is not in town now.

“I know the strike will affect your National Youth Service Corps scheme. We have told the union chairmen to meet with the lecturers to rectify the issues.”

Lecturers in the four state-owned institutions, who have been on strike for over three months now, are protesting against the non-payment of their salaries and non-remittance of their pension deductions, among other challenges.

National President of the NANS, Tijani Usman Shehu, who decried the fact that many state governors were owing teachers in their states salary arrears running into months, insisted that lack of prompt payment of salary in various state retard educational advancement in those states in particular and the country in general, especially at the basic education level.

Shehu, who deplored the unfortunate scenario, condemned the demand made of Osun State secondary school students by the state government, stressing that such a policy should be condemned in the strongest possible terms because these are no prerequisites to get education in any part of the world.

“The demand for tax clearance certificates belonging to parents from their children and wards, who are students, before they are allowed to attain classes is an act that is utterly condemnable because tax clearance certificate is not a prerequisite for accessing education anywhere, and has nothing to do with our students,” Shehu submitted.

The student leader, who says that henceforth, political leaders would be weary of taking Nigerian students for a ride, added that “NANS is calling on the Federal Government and state governments to increase funding to our educational institutions otherwise Nigerian students would continuously fight for their rights.”

The Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Mumuni Adetokunbo, also believes that by the protest, secondary school students in the country are beginning to send strong messages to their governors to treat education with deserved attention.

“Osun State public secondary school students were right to protest against the state government over the tax clearance certificate demand, which I consider a senseless and stupid demand. Their action shows every politician that Nigerians are getting wiser and asking questions about the way they are governed.”

The SERAP boss insisted that the students’ action was okay because, “You cannot owe their parents salary arrears and ask them to come with tax clearance certificates. Where will the certificates come from? It is good the state government retraced its steps. Since we are in the era of change, the disposition of the people should also reflect change in the way we react to justifiable cases of injustice against the people by governments, or the way we react to unpopular government policies.”