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Tag: LASPOTECH

  • LASPOTECH sacks five

    The Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) Governing Council has sacked five workers of the institution for various reasons.

    A statement by the Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, noted that the Council sacked the workers during its meeting held last Friday after due  process was followed.

    The statement reads: “The Polytechnic Governing Council at its meeting of Friday 20 September 2019, after exhausting all the due processes as contained in the Staff Conditions of Service, dismissed five staff of the institution for offences ranging from plagiarism, falsification of students examination results, fraudulently gaining employment without pre-requisite qualification, breach of confidentiality, assault and battery etc.

    “The sacked workers are Talabi Babatunde Kareem, Adeniyi Yusuf Olatunji, Mutiu Badmus, Anuoluwapo Olorunseun and Rashidat Olaitan Abudu. All the affected staff have been duly communicated of the decision of the Governing Council.”

  • Sanwo-Olu constitutes visitation panel on LASPOTEH crisis

    Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday constituted a visitation panel to look into the lingering crisis rocking the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).

    The visitation panel is to investigate all contentious issues that are setting the staff union of the school against the management.

    The Governor also ordered members of staff earlier disengaged by the management to forward their letters of appeal to the school’s Governing Council within seven days for a review of the process of their disengagement, but with a condition that the appeal letters get endorsed by the Head of Service to ensure transparency in the review process.

    The Governor expressed concerns over the effects of the protracted crisis on the well being of the school, noting that the prevailing situation had affected the morale of law-abiding employees of the institution, as well as the academic performance of its students.

    He said the government was aware of the humiliation and denigration that the Governing Council and management of the school had endured in the last six months when this impasse began, calling on all stakeholders to keep peace in the interest of the students.

    Read Also: We are on strike for our students, Laspotechworkers

    “The State Government, without prejudice to an earlier rebuff of its magnanimous gesture to re-consider the disengagement of some employees of the Institution, is once again asking disengaged Officers who are willing to continue their service in the institution to forward their letters of appeal to the institution’s Governing Council within seven days for a review of their disengagement. Copies of such letters should be duly endorsed to the Head of Service for an unbiased review of the process leading to their disengagement.

    “Employees of the institution should note that they are under contractual obligation to perform optimally as stated in the terms of their employment. Any acts that are contrary to this shall be treated in accordance with the Public Service Rules, other extant regulations and the Labour Laws,” Sanwo-Olu explained.

    The governor said his administration appreciated the role a strong, dynamic and enlightened academic union is playing in entrenching culture of industrial harmony and development.

    He however said his government would not bend to blackmail and be hoodwinked by “a union that continues to carry out its agitations in a manner that threatens and is becoming inimical to the peace of the state.”

    He warned any member of the school bent on breaching the peace in the school, saying such person would be dealt with in accordance with the law.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, all acts capable of disrupting academic activities, breaching a conducive working environment and peaceful co-existence in the Institution shall be dealt with in accordance with the Laws,” the Governor said.

    The Governor praised students of the school for their “peaceful conduct” in the face of the “needless crisis”, wishing them good luck in their forthcoming examination.

    Assured that normalcy would be restored and sustained in the institution, while ensuring safety and security of all members of the school during and after the examination.

  • Ending LASPOTECH’s workers’ pay battle

    The Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) chapters of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) have been on strike since January 21, over the non-implementation of the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale (CONTISS) 15. The unions have vowed not to resume until management accedes to their demands. However, the implementation is not so straight forward report KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and BUSOLA SEBIOTIMO.

    For almost four months now, members of the Non-Academic Staff Union(NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian  Polytechnics(SSANIP) have been on strike at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH).

    They have refused to work since January 21, 2019 because of what they called the management’s refusal to implement the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale (CONTISS) 15.

    The implementation battle which has been on since 2014 also involved the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).  They are seeking the implementation of the CONTISS 15 to enable them migrate from one grade level to a higher one as approved by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

    NASU chairman, Comrade Semiu Akinlawon Fasasi, told The Nation that the workers of the institution started demanding payment based on the signing of the Federal Government’s 2009 agreement with ASUP, NASU, and SSANIP in 2013.

    He said: “CONTISS 15 migration was implemented for those at the top of the ladder. It is a new salary level. Prior to CONTISS 15, the highest level salary anyone can attain is 14. So from level 12 upwards, it was implemented leaving 11 and below. That has been on since 2004 in Lagos State Polytechnic.

    “Agitation at the national level came saying that those below the ladder should be moved too so it was eventually agreed in 2013 meaning everyone was moved a level  higher. The approval came in 2013 for all the polytechnics in Nigeria but it was said to have taken effect 2009 which means all the polytechnics will be having arrears from 2009.”

    The issue of payment of arrears has caused contention at LASPOTECH since then, resulting in numerous strikes by the three unions.  ASUP went on strike on May 2017; June 5 to20; and August 1 to 15, 2017 over the matter which even went before the National Industrial Court (NIC). However, presently, ASUP has been disbanded because of the internal crisis between the union and the management.  It is not presently on ground in the institution so the lecturers are not on strike. NASU and SSANIP have, nevertheless, sworn to continue the struggle to the very end.

    The institution’s management and the Lagos State government, which owns the polytechnic, are not in agreement about payment of CONTISS 15 arrears (accrued for about 87 months and totaling about N1.7 billion as at 2017).

    The unions claimed that the Lagos State government agreed to pay the arrears following its approval of the migration to CONTISS 15 in 2014.

    However, the cost of the migration to CONTISS 15 for the workers was more than the institution’s subvention of N153, 731,200 million at that time.

    The Nation gathered that in 2017 following the state government’s approval of the CONTISS 15 migration, the then Rector, Dr Abdulazeez Lawal, set up a committee to investigate modalities for migration to CONTISS 15 in 2014. The committee was chaired by the current rector of the polytechnic, Yinka Sogunro, who was then Deputy Rector.

    When it submitted its report in June 2014, the committee noted that migration to CONTISS 15 would cost the polytechnic N19,718, 559 monthly above the institution’s wage bill.

    The government then increased the subvention to N210,000,000 in June 2016.  The monthly wage bill, at N229,401,307.00, was still higher than the subvention of N210,000,000 resulting in a shortfall of N19,401, 301, which the institution was told to use its Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) to settle.

    The institution however had a debt profile of N2,778, 549,846,21 and the government directed that 50 per cent of the IGR be used to repay part of the debt monthly – further reducing funds to pay the CONTISS 15.

    Since Sogunro became Rector in June 2016, the workers claimed he has worked against the implementation of CONTISS 15.

    Fasasi said the Sogunro-led management claimed the increased subvention did not include the N19 million to implement the new salary scheme, despite the Governing Council’s predisposition to implement the scale.

    He said: “At a point, the council was predisposed to implement it without us (union) knowing the Rector was vehemently against it.  OnNovember 8 (2016), the council pronounced implementation. The October salary was effected with the implementation.”

    The enjoyment of the new salary structure was short-lived.  In February 2017, about three months later, the unions began agitating for arrears, which a source told The Nation the government said it did not owe.  The unions also claimed the Rector started seeking reversal of implementation of the CONTISS 15.

    Fasasi said: “We’ve had 87 months accrued arrears. By February 2017, we approached the management on how the arrears would be paid because the approval that came with the increased salary scheme had highlighted modalities on the ways they should go about the payment of the arrears. It stressed they are increasing the subvention for the new salary scheme and payment for part of the arrears.

    “We said the management should pay the arrears in staggered form. Unfortunately, the management was nursing the reversal of the implementation, stating that it was done by force.”

    The NASU chairman claimed the management dragged the unions to court for forceful implementation of the new salary scheme with the purpose of reversing it. He said this happened despite the Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule saying the implementation should continue.

    “Before court, deputy governor, Dr. Adebule invited all parties-arms of government involved in labour matters, unions, Governing Council, management, office of special adviser on education to mediate. She said she has the approval of the Governor that the implementation should continue. It is only the arrears that she does not have the approval to speak on and we should suspend strike. We promised to end it.”

    Fasasi and Mrs Adetayo Ukomadu a Trustee of SSANIP, accused the institution’s management of persecuting members of the unions since talks broke down in 2017.  They said many have been demoted, harassed, and imprisoned for spurious reasons.

    He said: “The management started picking persecuting staff that participated in protests one by one giving them suspension, demotion, interdiction, victimising leadership and membership, everybody now works in fear, the situation was so tensed.

    “Once, the rector called a town hall meeting, he picked one of the SSANIP EXCO up that he called him after the meeting had ended and the person did not answer; that was how the person was demoted.

    “Another one, a NASU member had people pursuing him around which he alerted people about but he was taken for raising false alarm and was taken to disciplinary staff committee and he was demoted. Every well-meaning Ikorodu people intervened but he was still demoted. Members were accused of deflating a tyre and they were all demoted.”

    Mrs Ukomadu added: “Union members are being scattered all over, I live just in front of the school and I’ve now been moved to Isolo campus and so many others too.

    “A system that will demote, suspend, dismiss, disengage, interdict with no reason, even advise a staff to divorce her husband, and that woman had to step out of her husband’s house before the interdiction was lifted. It is a display of madness.”

    Since January, when the CONTISS 15 was reversed, and salaries reduced, the union leaders said many workers began to suffer financially.

    “Leaving court December 2018, the management reversed the implementation January 2019. You can imagine the salary that has been enjoyed since 2016! All the finances of the workers had been based on that salary; members had taken loans. The management even introduced FCMB – that staff should take loans and all.

    “On reversal, the finances of staff members crumbled.  We have people that take N4,000, N2,500, or nothing at all. Some people have loans to service, leaving them with negative balance. Even the management recruited some lecturers advertising the new salary scheme. The lecturers were not left out too; they belong to ASUP, sheep without shepherd.”

    Fasasi also said that since the strike in January, many workers who agitated, including himself, were unilaterally sacked.

    “The first action the management took when we started the struggle January 21st was by 23rd, the management issued disengagement letter to four of us, me inclusive, for agitation. We were never called for discussion, even for the reversal. Taking decision for generality of the workers, we have never been called for a meeting for the last three years to discuss anything. They have decided to be using their tactics to oppress us.

    “We have decided now that this management must go. He manipulates the governing council to his whims and caprices. The management controls the council so both have to go,” he said.

    Responding to the crisis, Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, said the school would take action on the strike after a 14-man committee set up by the Lagos State Head of Service (HOS) complete their investigation.

    He further said that lectures were still ongoing and everything is peaceful in the school, and it was only aggrieved union members that were complaining as lecturers were still faithfully teaching.

    “It is only the aggrieved union members that are saying the rector must go. Lectures are still going on. Members of the ASUP dissolved their EXCO members on their own as against claims we had a hand in dissolving it, we don’t have such power to do that,” he said.

    He told The Nation, that the issues around the crisis were explained in a piece, ‘’Facts about the CONTISS 15 Migration’’, he wrote that was published in The Nation on February 16, 2019.

    In the said piece, Kuye said the implementation of the CONTISS 15 between October 2016 and January 2019 was in error as the NBTE had, through a policy document, noted that the implementation of CONTISS 15 was not for all workers.

    He said: “The NBTE, in response, sent the policy guidelines directly to the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education (SAE).

    “The Office of SAE sent the policy papers to the Governing Council and other relevant agencies of Government for consideration and recommendation.

    “On receiving the NBTE document from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, the Governing Council constituted a committee  with representatives from Governing Council,  Management and the three Staff  Unions to consider the document as directed by the State Government.  At the said meeting, the unions insisted that the Polytechnic should implement the NBTE  CONTISS 15 Migration Guidelines holistically even though Management and Governing Council were not favourably disposed to this union’s position for they believed that it should only be for officers on CONTISS 11 downwards and CONTISS 12 upwards (where necessary) according to NBTE. To give peace a chance again, the Governing Council/ Management obliged.”

    Kuye also said the institution had made efforts to cushion the effect of the reversal by  approving promotions, and annual salary increments.

  • ‘No fraudulent exams in LASPOTECH’

    Authorities of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, on Friday refuted the claim by one of his staff members that the just concluded 2018/2019 examinations were fraudulent.

    A statement signed by the polytechnic’s Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, said the examinations were well conducted in sync with best global practices, including both internal and external moderation of questions.

    ‘’ Adequate security and medical services, power supply and all other essential needs were put in place to ensure the smooth conduct of the examinations, despite the attempts made by the non-academic staff unions to disrupt the academic exercise.

    ‘’It should be on record that Mr Salami Gbenga, who granted the interview, casting aspersions on the conduct of the examinations was never a member of the non-academic staff union, talk less of being the spokesman of the union as he claimed in the said interview.

    Read Also: LASPOTECH showcases invented devices

    ‘’ It should be noted that Mr Salami participated fully in the invigilation of the exercise (examinations), graded the students’ scripts and had since submitted his results. There was no time he reported any wrongdoing throughout the conduct of the examinations”.

    Kuye noted that protesting non-academic staff members actually attempted to cut off essential services, including water supply, generating set and medical services needed for the conduct of the examinations, but they were thwarted by the management of the polytechnic.

    ‘’The management of the institution thwarted their plans with the support of the security agencies to ensure the smooth conduct of the examinations that started on Monday March 4 and lasted for three weeks without a hitch,’’he said.

  • Court orders striking LASPOTECH unions to eschew violence

    The National Industrial Court, Lagos Division, yesterday ordered the striking staff unions of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) to eschew violence and maintain peace.

    The order will subsist, pending the determination of the motion on notice. The parties to the suit are the unions, the Lagos State Government, Attorney- General of Lagos State and  LASPOTECH. The dispute is over the implementation of the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15).

    The suit was filed by the local chapters of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP).

    Justice E. A. Oji said the unionists must maintain peace since they have brought the matter to court for adjudication.

    Read also: LASPOTECH vows to punish molesters of JAMB officials

    “The counter-claimants (the three unions) must maintain peace and respect the fact that they have brought their dispute to court.

    “It is now ordered as follows: The counter-claimants are to maintain the peace and not to engage in actions that will obstruct the official activities of the third defendant (LASPOTECH) to the counter-claim pending the determination of the motion for interlocutory injunction.’’

    The motion will be heard on June 18.

    Meanwhile, the polytechnic has apologised to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over the molestation of two of the board’s officials by some non-teaching workers.

    In a statement,  the polytechnic’s Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations, Mr. Olanrewaju Kuye, said the matter was being handled by the police, adding that culprits would be punished.

  • LASPOTECH vows to punish molesters of JAMB officials

    The Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu on Wednesday said it would punish any of its non-teaching staff involved in the molestation of two officials of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on the school campus, as claimed by the examination body.

    The Polytechnic spokesman said in Lagos that the institution and the Lagos State Government were already addressing the issue, while the police had begun investigation into the matter.

    Recall that JAMB had alleged that two of its officials were nearly set ablaze at LASPOTECH on March 29.

    Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, made the disclosure when the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, visited some Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres in Abuja during the mock examination.

    Oloyede said that the officials were attacked at the centre of the mock examination in the institution, and would have been set ablaze, but for a quick intervention that saved them from the attempted jungle justice.

    He said the reason for the dastardly attack had yet to be ascertained, even as the two officials had been taken to the hospital.

    Kuye, while confirming that the institution’s authorities was aware of the incident, apologised to the board and assured the JAMB Registrar that the perpetrators would be brought to book.

    “We are aware of the ugly incident of molestation of two JAMB officials and the polytechnic’s Director of ICT who were on official assignment at the institution’s Ikorodu campus, by some of our non-teaching staff.

    “While the polytechnic condemns this act of barbarism, we are using this medium to assure the JAMB registrar, and indeed the entire Nigerians, that the police is on top of the matter.

    “We therefore deeply apologise to Prof. Oloyede and the attacked officials for this unwarranted assault on innocent staff by the members of the non-teaching staff of the polytechnic,” Kuye said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, the workers have denied the allegation by JAMB, saying it was untrue.

    Mr Abiodun Awoyemi, Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), LASPOTECH chapter said the protesting unions only walked the Polytechnic’s Director of ICT and the two JAMB officials out of the campus.

    Awoyemi said the officials were escorted out of the campus in full glare of many, including the police, because non-academic activities had been paralysed since Jan. 20, due to an ongoing strike by the union.

    “It was one of our union members at ICT that escorted the Director and the JAMB officials out and even our communication with the JAMB coordinator in Lagos reveals that there was nothing like that.

    “The same JAMB official alleged to be molested and hospitalised are the same people that conducted the mock examination at another centre in Ikorodu on Monday,” he said.

    NAN also reports that members of Non-Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP) and SSANIP, LASPOTECH Chapter had since Jan. 20 embarked on an indefinite strike and continuous protest to demand reversal of an alleged de-migration of their salary structure by the institution management.

    The unions alleged that the Polytechnic Rector had de-migrated its workers’ salary structure from the CONTISS 15 migration against the Deputy Governor’s pronouncement and Court’s directive. (NAN)

  • Striking NASUP workers shut LASPOTECH gate

    Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), locked the gates of the institution’s main campus in Ikorodu on Wednesday over non-payment of their March salary.

    The union has been on strike since January over their demand for the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS) 15 migration which would see workers moving from one salary grade level to the other.

    There has been disagreement between the union and the institution’s Governing Council over the implementation of the CONTISS 15 since 2016.

    However, things took an alarming turn on Wednesday when members of the union locked the entrance gate to the school and sent those found on campus away.  The Union members also went to the LASPOTECH staff school and sent the pupils and teachers home.

    The Nation gathered that the workers who had been receiving salary since the strike began in January, were shocked when they were not paid for March.

    A member of staff who refused the give her name after finding her way to get into the premises, told The Nation that representatives of the Union held a meeting with the Lagos State Head of Service, Hakeem Muri Okunola on Tuesday but “I don’t know the outcome of the meeting,” she said.

    Read also: LASPOTECH showcases invented devices

    It was learnt the Rector, Mr Samuel Sogunro, left the campus for Alausa to discuss the crisis with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

    When contacted, the Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, said the salaries had not been paid because those responsible for its preparation were not allowed to work.

    “We are on strike.  We cannot go to our offices so how can we work? How can salaries be paid?  We only go round our offices but cannot enter.  That is why the salaries have not been paid,” he said.

    Around 4pm, Policemen arrived and ordered the workers to re-open the gate.  They remained on campus patrolling the area as at press time.

  • LASPOTECH: Understanding the CONTISS imbroglio

    The agitation for the implementation of Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS 15) migration by the three staff unions is an issue that has thrown the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) community into unrest since 2016.

    The CONTISS 15 migration is the movement of staff from one salary grade level to the next level provided the staff meets the necessary conditions stipulated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) that such staff must have been employed before August 1, 2009. Such staff must possess the basic academic/professional or both qualifications applicable to his/her competence in addition to compliance with institutional policy and such staff must have spent a minimum of two years on the current position before the year of migration.

    The threats by the three staff unions to the lives of members of the Governing Council along with the principal officers of the polytechnic got to a peak that during a session of the Governing Council’s meeting when the members were rounded up and locked up at the Board Room with threats to set ablaze the entire building with the members inside. Charms were freely displayed and urine poured on the heads of elderly council members sent to appeal to them. Power supply was cut off and all members’ cars vandalised.

    Following these threats, the office of the special adviser to the governor on education in order to save lives and property, directed the Governing Council to implement the CONTISS 15 migration scheme in order to pacify the rampaging union members that held the Governing Council members hostage for several hours. This implementation was on the terms presented by the three staff unions which was later found to be defective.

    The faulty implementation of the CONTISS 15 started in October 2016; notwithstanding, the three staff unions continued to agitate for the payment of the 87 months arrears calculated to N1.7billion which was a financial burden to accommodate.

    Management at this instance sent two members of staff to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna to seek clarification on the policy implementation of CONTISS 15 migration, specifically, a member of the unions and another, a deputy registrar in the personnel department on behalf of management.

    Ironically, the two gentlemen sent to NBTE returned with two conflicting reports. The representative of the unions came with a point to point movement implementation which was their position for October 2016 defective implementation, while the representative of management insisted that the implementation was to be in line with the normal and usual promotional movement as it was done in 2004 when the polytechnic implemented the Alignment of Nomenclature Policy of 1998 of Lagos State government.

    Based on the conflicting positions of the representatives, the office of the special adviser to the governor on education wrote directly to NBTE, seeking clarification on the implementation of the said NBTE guidelines.

    The NBTE, in response, sent the policy guidelines directly to the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education (SAE).

    The Office of SAE sent the policy papers to the Governing Council and other relevant agencies of government for consideration and recommendation.

    On receiving the NBTE document from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, the Governing Council constituted a committee with representatives from Governing Council, management and the three staff unions to consider the document as directed by the state government.  At the meeting, the unions insisted that the polytechnic should implement the NBTE  CONTISS 15 Migration Guidelines holistically even though management and Governing Council were not favourably disposed to this position for they believed that it should only be for Officers on CONTISS 11 downwards and CONTISS 12 upwards (where necessary) according to NBTE.

    To give peace a chance again the Governing Council/ Management obliged.

    This position was part of the collective resolutions of the Governing Council, management and the unions that was forwarded later to the state government for consideration and necessary approval in 2017.

    The unions at several intervals embarked on strike actions that disturbed the peace of the institution. This forced the state government to institute a court action against the unions’ consistent strike actions.

    The state House of Assembly intervened at the unions’ instance but they were impatient to wait for the resolution before embarking on their usual trade mark – strike action.

    They also waved off, in acts of arrogance and disrespect to constituted authority, the intervention of the high power State Executive Council led by the Deputy Governor in the company of the Secretary to the State Government and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education.

    Having disregarded the interventions of the deputy governor’s team and that of the state House of Assembly, the Lagos State Executive Council proceeded to deliberate on the Governing Council’s presentation on the NBTE documents and released its decision which was communicated to the polytechnic management for implementation effective July 1, 2018 but just commenced by the polytechnic due to administrative inconveniences and court directive.

    The state government in an act of magnanimity overlooked all previous payments made in error since October 2016 to staff involved in the migration scheme due to the defective position of the unions before the approved implementation date of the State Executive Council.

    Steps taken by the polytechnic management so far include series of meetings between the staff and management to explain the position of CONTISS 15 migration, letters written to every member of staff involved in CONTISS 15 Migration by the registrar, implementation of CONTISS 15 Migration in accordance with the NBTE guideline and as directed by the Lagos State government and management directed all staff who may have issues on the implementation to forward their complaints to the registrar for necessary action.

    Both the Governing Council and management have also taken a number of steps to cushion the effects of the salary realignment, including immediate promotion of staff that were due for the 2016/2017 appraisal year, immediate commencement of 2017/2018 appraisal, immediate implementation of annual increments from 2016 to date and payment of three months arrears of promotion to eligible staff member.

    Kuye is the Deputy Registrar, Information and Public Relations of the Lagos State Polytechnic, (LASPOTECH) Ikorodu.

  • LASPOTECH students sensitize voters on costume day

    With the general elections just few hours away, Film students of Mass Communication department in Lagos State Polytechnic took to the streets on Wednesday to campaign for a violence-free election.

    Pedestrian and vehicular movements in the school were halted while the rally lasted as the students defied the hot weather clad in various professional, traditional and religious costumes dancing, singing and bearing placards with various inscriptions.

    The rally which started from the Department of Mass Communication was taken around the campus community from Faculty to Faculty as the students engaged other students, traders, staff, shuttle drivers and passengers on the need for everyone to stand up united in the fight against election misconducts such as stealing of ballot-boxes, boycotting of elections, vote-buying and most importantly, election violence.

    The course lecturer, Mr Steve Anu Adesemoye in an interview pointed out that the Costume day is a “yearly rite that is specially designed to add fun to teaching and learning of film production”.

    He said; “We equally ensure that each costume day is anchored on a theme that is beneficial to the larger society. This is our little way of contributing to the betterment of our great nation. We strongly believe that, a well informed citizen becomes an active citizen. Active citizen builds a better society from an informed heart.”

    He however added that, the bigger dream is to join hands with other tertiary institutions to serve as the harbinger of enduring policies and research hubs that will turn Nigeria around for better, like other developed countries.

    Speaking in an interview, the leader of the organizing committee, Oyediran Oyeronke said “Costume day is originally seen as a day to display and promote various traditions and professions, but this year we decided to take it up a notch by using it as a medium to remind the people that their votes are their voices and their rights, and that they can exercise that right without violence and war. We also used it as an avenue to campaign against trading of votes”.

    The rally which is an annual event in the department is tilted towards addressing the various ills in the society and this year’s edition was as a matter of fact, an unforgettable event.

  • LASPOTECH dismisses NASUP chairman, others over unionism

    The Lagos State Polytechnic ( LASPOTECH ) Ikorodu on Friday confirmed the dismissal of four of its non-academic workers.

    The Chairman of the LASPOTECH Chapter of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP), Mr Akinlawon Fasasi, is among those dismissed.

    The Spokesman of the polytechnic, Mr Olanrewaju Kuye, told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview in Lagos that the affected workers were dismissed for allegedly disrupting activities on campus.

    On Jan. 21, members of the LASPOTECH Chapter of NASUP, embarked on continuous protests to demand the reversal of an alleged de-migration of their salary structure by the institution’s management.

    Members of the union, supported by other sister unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) matched around the campus in their hundreds chanting solidarity songs.

    They carried placards with inscriptions: “No to De-migration”, “Sogunro uses Ambode to disrupt LASPOTECH. No to strangulation of unions,” among other allegations.

    The workers shut major offices in the institution and disconnected facilities, including electricity and water.

    Kuye named other sacked workers as Mrs Bisola Afolabi of the examination and records department, Mrs Omowunmi Adebisi, Secretary of NASUP and Mrs Muinat Ogunbambi-Ibrahim of the registry department.

    He said that the sacked workers had been terrorising the campus under the guise of CONTISS 15 Migration.

    “The management states unequivocally that no staff of the polytechnic is being demoted as claimed by some individuals.

    “The polytechnic migrated deserving staff and placed them appropriately, in line with the policy guideline of the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) that was adopted by the Lagos State Government.

    “Management of the Polytechnic, through various fora, engaged the entire members of staff on the implementation of the CONTISS 15 Migration,” he said.

    According to Kuye, the perennial disruptions by the unionists has created instability, trauma and unnecessary panic for the polytechnic community.

    The spokesman said that despite efforts by the governing council and management in ensuring peace and stability on its campus, a handful of members of staff had refused to comport themselves within the rules and regulations guiding staff of the polytechnic.

    He said that the sacked workers had constantly engaged in thuggery and threatening other law-abiding workers with charms and weapons if they refused to join them in their protest.

    “In the course of the unethical conduct, these rampaging members of staff caused the following havocs: indiscriminate beating, intimidation and harassment of staff with diabolical cane.

    “Damage of one of the doors in the bursary department. Taking hostages of principal officers and some members of staff in the library complex while the source of power supply was disconnected.

    “Utterances of numerous hate speeches directed at principal officers of the polytechnic, members of the governing council and disruption of the maiden meeting of heads of state-owned tertiary institutions, among others.

    Kuye said, however, that the institution’s management was striving to restore normalcy in the polytechnic and that it would not tolerate any act of lawlessness that would undermine the peace and progress required in an academic environment.

    He said that the polytechnic had the prerogative to carry out such dismissal if need be.

    Reacting to the development, Mr Olugbenga Salami, Vice-Chairman of the LASPOTECH Chapter of ASUP, described the decision of the polytechnic management as lawless and laughable and a display of high-handedness.

    Salami said it was undemocratic for any management under a government establishment in the 21st century to wake up and sack its staff without due process.

    He said that information reaching the union was that 100 staff were about to be disengaged as against the four claimed by the polytechnic.

    “I am not saying that they cannot wield their powers but there are some powers you do not have the authority to wield because there are processes.

    “There are processes required when you want to employ them and there are process required if you want to disengage them.

    “Council has the final say when it comes to such matters and as we speak, since on Monday that the protest started, there is nowhere the council sat to consider any report that might have emanated.

    “This is because the campus has been shut down.

    “The affected workers have also not faced any disciplinary committee, so the process of the dismissal is illegal.”

    Salami said the unions had, however, briefed their lawyers on the matter for appropriate legal action.

    He urged Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode to urgently wade into the matter as the unions were not ready to stop the protests until all the issues were resolved and their demands met.

    Efforts by NAN correspondent to speak with Fasasi on the developments proved futile.