Ondo Poly shut over ASUP’s protest

Ondo State has closed down the school over protest embarked upon by the institution’s Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP). Students of the institution are supposed to be writing their first semester of 2018/2019 academic session.

The Acting Registrar of the polytechnic, Sule Atiku, at a news conference yesterday announced the closure.

He said: “In view of this development, I wish to intimate that all students of the institution are hereby advised to vacate the institution not later than 3:00p.m.
“This closure has become imperative in order for council and management to forestall the breaking down of law and order.”

Chairman of ASUP Oluwadare Ijawoye said the association was only barring its grievances towards injustice and ill-treatment from the school management.

Ijawoye noted that the Acting Rector Mr. Gani Ogundahunsi’s policies and decisions were hostile and against the welfare of ASUP members in the school.

He said the management withheld almost N500 million out of N1.7 billion released by the state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to offset nine months’ salary arrears and emoluments of the institution’s staff.

According to him, courses in RUGIPO are on verge of de-accreditation according to the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) for lack of payment of staff salaries, emoluments and promotion.

The ASUP chairman said it was disheartening that his members had not been promoted for three years, attributing the faults to Ogundahunsi-led management’s policies.

He also accused the management of non-remittance of six-month salaries deduction, amounting to N630 million to various cooperative societies in the school.

The chairman, therefore, appreciated efforts of the state governor on transforming the institution, asking him to nip in the bud the alleged hostility of the school’s management to its staff.