Lagos poly staff protest unpaid arrears

Aggrieved staff of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday to protest nonpayment of outstanding CONTISS 15 arrears.

The Chairman of the LASPOTECH chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Akinrinlola Ibitoye who led the protest, said it had become expedient for Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to intervene in the crisis by prevailing on the Rector, Oluyinka Sogunro, to effect payment of their outstanding payment of the 87-month accumulated arrears of the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) 15 migration.

The protesting workers explained that CONTISS 15 migration had to do with the exact salary staff were entitled to collect as monthly salaries, but that they had to accept underpayment for seven years and two months based on the agreement reached with the last administration which pleaded with them to bear with the state government pending the period that the state would be financially buoyant enough to clear the arrears.

“Before the commencement of our strike action in April, the rector at a meeting where he was represented by his deputy, claimed that N340 million had been saved and that he was waiting for approval to use the fund in offsetting 16 of the 87 months of arrears as stipulated in the approved CONTISS 15 migration draft but as we speak, that has not been done,” Sogunro said.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa, who addressed the protesters, assured them that the lawmakers would investigate their case.