Roads leading to Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, were blocked by the enraged students of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology (OSCATECH), Igboora; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (EACOED), and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
The secretariat’s gates were shut for about five hours against the protesting students who carried placards bearing various inscriptions as “Is this democracy or crazy demo? Reopen our schools, Mr. Constituted Authority”, “Constituted Authority, please save our schools”, “We are tired of staying at home”, “Education is a right and not a privilege” and “Save our future and re-open our schools; we are tired of staying at home”.
Staff of OSCATECH and EACOED have been on strike for about four months, owing to 17 months salary arrears, fractional salary payment from January 2016 to July 2018, inadequate subvention and poor funding by the state government.
The students that gathered under the auspices of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) protested the recent increase of LAUTECH tuition from N65,000 and 72,000 to N200,000 and N250,000, demanding a reversal.
Chairman of NANS, Oyo chapter, Morounkola Teslim, decried the dilly-dallying between the management of the schools and the state government over the impasse.
His words: “We are here to show our displeasure to the society and to the Oyo State Secretariat concerning two of our state-owned tertiary institutions which have been closed for the past four months, and LAUTECH whose tuition fees have been increased.
“Government claimed that the reason for the closure is subvention, but stated that it has increased subvention to 70 per cent, and that management should augment with 30 per cent for salaries of workers to be paid. But it is quite unfortunate that the management has been unable to supplement the subvention they were given.
“The situation is such that it is either government increases subvention to 100 per cent or prevails on management to do the needful.
How can we be kept at home for four months because the management and government are unable to find a way to pay lecturers?”
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