From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on new minimum wage purportedly signed between the Oyo State Government and the Joint Action Committee of state-owned tertiary institutions on behalf of the workers, has been rejected by the Joint Implementation Committee of The Polytechnic, Ibadan on new minimum wage and consequential adjustment.
The joint committee described the MoU as fraudulent, null and void, and of no effect, in a communique, jointly signed by the chairmen of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), Abiodun Abegunde; Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Akande Ibraheem; and Mrs. T. M Oyebola, Representative of Academics, on Thursday.
The communique stated that the MoU was jointly signed by Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Olasunkanmi Olaleye; Chairman, Governing Council, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Prof. Adekunle Akinyemi; Chairman, Governing Council,
Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, Prof. M. Odedokun, and so on.
According to the communique, the new minimum wage payable to all academic and non academic staff in the state-owned tertiary institutions shall be N36,500 per month, effective January 1, 2020 with first payment (to have been made) in December 2020 while the arrears shall be paid in tranches of not more than three instalments.
“Those who claimed to be representatives of The Polytechnic, Ibadan are neither the direct beneficiaries or the rightful representatives of the Unions on the purported MOU.
“NASU of all the six tertiary institutions are not parties of the so-called MOU as deceptively captured in the heading of the purported MOU. The Polytechnic, Ibadan Staff Unions are not part of the purported MOU too. The Ministry of Finance of Oyo State, whose responsibilities cover financial matters, was left out in the whole process.
“The individuals, who represented the ASUP, SSANIP, COEASU and SSUCOEN did not indicate the institution being represented. The individual who signed the purported MOU for COEASU is presently on suspension thus, rendering the purported MOU clearly invalid.
“Allowing JAC leadership to sign for other Unions who had expressed loss of confidence in the leadership of the contraption is an aberration.
“The leaving out of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and First Technical University, Ibadan suggests that the word “tertiary” as characterised by the so-called MOU, is a deceit and serving the interest of its authors only.
“Therefore, the so-called purported MOU is a document that is Brought in Dead. It does not worth the paper on which it is written thus it is neither acceptable nor binding on the workers of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.”
