The Lagos State Government has slammed the management of Lagos State University, Ojo, over its failure to pay salary increment to its workers from the monthly subvention as well as the Internally Generated Revenue.

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Four unions of the institution, on Monday, locked out Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, as well as students who resumed after the COVID-19 lockdown.

The workers demanded payment of salary increments promised by the state, claiming other workers had gotten theirs while the institution was yet to pay.

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It was gathered that similar protests held across other state-owned tertiary institutions.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Tokunbo Wahab, in a statement, condemned and called on the management of LASU to pay up its workers from the N450m monthly subvention the institution was receiving from it.

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He said LASU was not accountable to the government on its Internally Generated Revenue.

Wahab said, “We wish to state categorically that the Lagos State University, like other MDAs being given subventions, collects the sum of N450m every month from the Lagos State Government as subvention.

READ ALSO: LASU Workers Protest Resumption, Lock Out VC, Students

“The government expects the institutions to also be responsible in the application of the funds and the staffing of the institutions. We must also have at the back of our mind that they have IGR, which they generate and they are not accountable to the government on how the same is expended.

“We expect that the management of these institutions pay up their staff salaries to avoid situations that look more like deliberate sabotaging of the efforts of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration as we prepare for schools’ resumption this week.”

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Wahab explained that aside the subvention, the government was also responsible for the infrastructural development, which include the recently approved 8,000-bed hostel in LASU”

Reacting to the development, Chairman of ASUU in the institution, Akinloye Oyewumi, said, “It is the VC’s boys who are playing games with the government.

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“I will like to clarify the fact that the real ASUU in LASU is not part of that charade, but you have a crop of renegades being sponsored by the university administration; you will be aware that the Nigerian university teachers are not on the civil service salary structure as we have our own specific salary structure; there is no sense in ASUU joining other staff unions to fight for minimum wage.” According to the coordinator, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, LASU, Mr Ademola Adekoya, said.

“The Lagos state government has directed that all tertiary institutions in Lagos to resume today, 14th of September and we rolled out the guidelines for resumption and we were hoping to resume today. Unfortunately, the unions came up with the demand for the new minimum wage that until government pays they will not open the gate and that is exactly what happened

“By and large, the VC appealed to them to open the gate so that negotiation can continue with the state government but they said no, in the afternoon we got a message that the union has been invited for a meeting tomorrow and we believe this will be resolved as the VC mentioned that the Lagos state government is willing to dialogue with the unions. When they have their meeting tomorrow we expect a truce to be reached so that the school can open for normal academic activity.”

The Head, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, LASU, Mr Ademola Adekoya, said, “We were hoping to resume today (Monday). Unfortunately, the unions came up with the demand for the new minimum wage.

“By and large, the VC appealed to them to open the gate so that negotiation could continue with the state government but they said no. In the afternoon, we got a message that the unions had been invited for a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) and we believe this will be resolved as the VC mentioned that the Lagos State Government was willing to discuss with the unions.

“When they have their meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) we expect a truce to be reached so that the school can open for normal academic activities.”

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