Students of tertiary institutions owned by Osun State Government on Monday staged a massive protest in Osogbo against the prolonged strike by their lecturers.
The lecturers in four state-owened institutions embarked on an indefinite strike over three months ago as a result of unpaid salaries, inadequate staff and non remittance of their pension deduction made by the state government to the retirement savings accounts.
The students, mostly from Osun State Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke; Colleges of Education in Ila and Ilesa, started the protest from Olaiya and trekked to Abere, the State Secretariat singing anti-government songs. The students had laid siege to the main gate of the state secretariat after they arrived there at around 11am.
At around 12:50pm, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, was driven to the secretariat but the students prevented her convoy from gaining entry. Some of the students laid on the ground in front of her car and some laid at the back making it difficult for the deputy to go inside or to turn back. All efforts made by Laoye-Tomori to pacify the irate students failed as they held her hostage in their midst.
Some of the students had earlier manhandled the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, by poking his stomach and making jest of him. The Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students, Osun State, Mr. Lukman Adekitan, said the students were tired of staying at home due to the strike in the four institutions. He called on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to addressed the issues raised by the lecturers, saying students of the affected schools have wasted a lot of time due to incessant strikes.
Punch
