The protracted disagreement between the management of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) and the members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic (SSANP) and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Lagos State Polytechnic chapters, over the implementation of CONTISS 15 migration scheme and the recent alleged reversal of the implementation of the scheme (De-migration) by the management, took another dimension on Wednesday March 27, 2019, with an indefinite strike action by the members of the unions.
The renewed strike action was reportedly due to the alleged selective salary payment by the management of the institution led by the Rector, Mr. Samuel Sogunro.
According to report gathered, the management was said to have paid the salaries of the academic staff members for the month of March and with-held that of the non-academic staff members.
The members of the three unions, who have been at loggerheads with the Rector since his assumption of office in 2016 over the implementation of the CONTISS 15 migration, which is the movement of staff grade level to the next level provided the staff member meets the necessary conditions stipulated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), reportedly shut the three main entrances of the Ikorodu main campus of the institution to prevent both vehicular and human movement in and out of the school to register their displeasure over their latest treatment by the Sogunro-led management.
When Oriwu Sun Editor, Hadj Kazim Ganiu Sanni and News Editor, Mufutau Jimoh, in an attempt to avoid the heavy traffic on Ikorodu Sagamu road due to the ongoing construction works drove through the campus to connect Odogunyan on their way to an assignment in Ogun State on Thursday, March 28, the entire premises was deserted as administrative and academic activities as well as other economic activities were grounded while the three banks operating on the campus were also closed to operations.
Attempts by Oriwu Sun crew to connect Odogunyan through the first and second gates were unsuccessful as the two gates were shut and blocked by the unions’ vehicles while scores of the protesting union members were seen gathered in group at the first gate to prevent movement into the campus.
Oriwu Sun team was later forced to take a detour through the third gate, where they had entered through to connect another route to their destination.
The strike action also affected the on-going examination in the institution as many students were unable to write their examination while those processing their National Youths Corp Service (NYSC) letters could not be attended to.
Many students, including other people who had come for banking transactions and other dealings, were seen stranded at the entrances of the school as they were denied access into campus by the protesting union members.
Comrade Biodun Awoyemi, the Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnic (SSANIP), Lagos State Polytechnic chapter, while explaining the cause of the renewed strike action, stated that it was due to the institution’s management’s selective salary payment.
“The rector did the unforgivable. The Rector payed the stipulated salaries, which we are all aware of and of course, we worked for it and the reason he paid for February was essentially because the students were to start examinations and since the academic staff are not fully partaking in this agitations, he has to pay them so as to get their supports for the conduct of examinations.”
“We envisaged that he wouldn’t want to pay for March. It was his refusal to pay the salaries of the non-teaching staff members that aggravated the strike and also led to the closure of the main gates of the institution,” Comrade Awoyemi explained.
He stated that the renewed agitations have been on since January when the Rector allegedly stopped the implementation of the CONTISS 15 salary scheme, which he said the staff members have been enjoying.
“If this agitations just started yesterday (March 27), you might not be getting it right. We have been on these renewed agitations since January 21, 2019, when we got the wind that the management was about to forcefully implement de-migration, which is the reversal of the migration we had initially attained during the 2016 agitations, so, that is why you see us embarking on this protest. Probably, this is the 9th or 10th week we have been on this.”
“Prior to yesterday (Wednesday) action, all we have been doing was just to gather all at the podium to pray and do peaceful protest.”
“We have also gone to the Alaka on few occasions but the moment we receive the Head of Service invitation, we just mellowed.”
The SSANIP chairman also claimed that the institution owes them over 100 months’ salary arears.
“By now, the salary arrears should be running into over 100 months, since it was already 87months in 2016. Simply put, the migration scheme should have been effective since 2009 but we didn’t get it until 2016. It was the salary arears between the period of 2009 and 2016 that accrued into 87 months, but we are now in 2019.”
When informed that the management was waiting for the report of the committee setup by the office of the Head of Service, who intervened in the matter to determine its next cause of action on the matter, the union leader dismissed the position as unreal.
“Why did the management aggravate the situation then if truly it is waiting for the committee’s report?” he queried.
“It is not their waiting for report that aggravated this. Ordinarily, we equally expected that the management should wait for the report and then act on its recommendations. But with the incident of Wednesday, there is need to tell the management that they cannot take us for granted. What happened on Wednesday and Thursday (March 27 and 28) was not because of the report because we were with the HOS on Tuesday (March 26) and we had no inkling of the report, so we wouldn’t have been reacting on that.”
“This renewed agitation came on Wednesday when the Rector started paying the academic staff members and neglecting others,” he clarified.
Comrade Awoyemi then called for the sack of the Sogunro led management and the Governing Council of the institution for peace to reign.
“What we are urging the government to do, irrespective of the fact that the matter is currently in court, is to remove Sogunro-led management and the 11th Governing Council for bad governance of the polytechnic.”
“We have never experienced this kind of governance before. Let the migration salary scheme return and resolve other agitation Sogunro led administration cannot ensure peace in the Polytechnic. I think the best thing is to sack him.”
The Chairman of National Association of Staff union (NASU), in his own reaction, said, “It is unfortunate that we have a management that is only interested in punishing the staff members. This management is the worst ever in the history of LASPOTECH in terms of welfare of the staff members.”
“The management chose to pay the salaries of the academic staff members and withheld that of the non-academic staff members. This was what further aggravated their anger despite the fact that some of the non-academic staff members were paid negative net pay, which is as low as N1,500”
In his own reaction, the vice chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) LASPOTECH, Chapter, Comrade Abdulsalam Oluwagbemiga, accused the Rector of employing divide and rule tactics to cause problems among the members of the unions.
He alleged that the Rector, who is also a member of the union, used his influence to destroy ASUP, and later proscribed it while also debunking the allegation that the academic union members are not fully in support of the struggle.
“That we were paid on Wednesday and the non-academic staff members were not did not surprise me at all. That has been the behaiour of the Rector. He likes grandstanding and believes that any dissent opinion should be killed.”
“He tried that with ASUP too in 2017. He stopped our salaries but we stood our ground, fought and resisted him within twenty four (24) hours.”
“He’s doing the same thing now because he believes that he can arm twists the non-academic staff members and clamp down on their protest.”
He also accused the Rector of running the institution as a personal property.
“But the Polytechnic council has risen to the occasion since that campus has been grounded. It is now that we are realizing that he does not have the authority of the council nor that of those in Alausa to do that.”
“That is the level the Rector could go in his maladministration. He will just take an action feeling that he is on top of the world, while also running the institution as a personal property.”
Also, the leadership of the student’ Union Government of the institution has called for peaceful resolution of the crisis.
The students’ leaders explained that since the crisis has started, they have been making several efforts to mediate in the matter in a bid to ensure quick resolution.
They said they had already met with the Rector and he has stated his own side of the matter while also alleging that the unions have refused to meet with them over the matter despite their quest for a meeting.
According to them, the allegation by the unions that they have been bought over by the management is untrue as they have been neutral in the matter and what they want from the two parties is to urgently reconcile their differences as the matter is already affecting the students.
They appealed to the union members to view the matter from the angle of parents by engaging the management and resolving their disagreement since they would not want an institution populated by their children to be closed down.
Meanwhile, the unions have been asked to maintain peace by the court pending the determination of the matter brought before it.
This was the ruling of the court when the two warring parties retuned to court on Monday, April 1, 2019, to present their cases in the matter filed two years ago.
The matter, with suit No. NICN/LA/361/2017, was before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
Hon. Justice E. A. Oji, (PHD), while ruling on the application after the argument of counsels to both parties, directed members of the unions to maintain peace and refrain from action(s) capable of causing breach of the matter before the court.
The parties are to return to the court on June 18, 2019, for hearing motion on notice.

…Management reacts about facts behind CONTISS 15 migration

The management of the Lagos State Polytechnic has, however, released a statement to explain the position of the institution on the controversy surrounding the implementation of the CONTISS 15 Migration scheme.
In the statement, titled “LASPOTECH: THE FACT ABOUT CONTISS 15 MIGRATION” and signed by the Deputy Registrar, (Information and Public Relations), Mr. Lanre Kuye, and which copy was sent to Oriwu Sun, the management admitted that the controversial CONTISS 15 Migration has created unrest in the institution.
“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 Polytechnic 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 member meets the necessary conditions stipulated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in Kaduna as listed below!
“(a) Such staff member must have been employed before August 1, 2019.
“(b) Such staff members must possess the basic academic/professional or both qualifications applicable to his/her competence in addition to compliance to institutional policy.
“© Such staff members must have spent a minimum of two (2) years on the current position before the year of migration.
It was stated that the state government directed the institution’s management to implement the scheme under duress to prevent threat of lives and properties of the members of the management.
“The lawlessness of the three (3) Staff Unions and threats to the lives of members of the Governing Council along with the Principal Officers of the Polytechnic got at a peak during a session of the Governing Council’s meeting when the council members were rounded up and locked up at the Board Room with threat 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 vandalized.”
“Following these threats, the office of the Special Adviser to His Excellency on Education, in order to save lives and properties, 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.”
The release stated that the implementation was later discovered to be faulty and that the continued agitation to pay the arrears placed big financial burden on the management.
“This implementation was on the terms presented by the three (3) staff unions, which was later found to be defective.”
“The faulty implementation of the CONTISS was started immediately 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.”
According to the management, effort to find out the truth about the scheme from NBTE proved abortive as the two (2) man team sent to Kaduna returned with conflicting reports.
“Management, at this instance, sent two (2) 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 Union and another, a Deputy Registrar in the Personnel Department on behalf of management.”
“Ironically, the two (2) gentlemen sent to NBTE returned with two (2) conflicting reports. The representative of the Union came with a point to point movements 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 1995 of Lagos State Government.”
It was stated that the Lagos State Government, through the office of the Special Adviser on Education, intervened in the conflict by approaching NBTE directly.
“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 a 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 (3) 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.”
“This position was part of the collective resolution of the Governing Council, Management and the Unions that was later forwarded to the State Government for consideration and necessary approval in 2017.
It was alleged that despite the State Government and the institution’s consideration for the unions, they still went on a strike, a situation which the management claimed made the government to approach the court.
“The Unions at several intervals embanked 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.”
It was also stated that the intervention of the Lagos State House of Assembly was rebuffed by the unions.
“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 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”.
These actions of the unions, the institution’s management stated, forced the State Government to direct the Polytechnic to implement the CONTISS 15 migration based on the information from NBTE which is reversal of the October 2016 implementation which has been described as ‘faulty’ by the State Government and LASPOTECH management.
“Having disregarded the interventions of the Deputy Governor 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 was just commenced by the Polytechnic due to administrative inconveniences and court directive.”
The Polytechnic, in the statement, also refuted the allegation by the unions that its members were being demoted.
“The management, hereby, refutes unequivocally that no staff member of the Polytechnic was being demoted as claimed by the union.”
It was also stated that the Lagos State Government has resolved not to make the staff members pay back what the management described as “the previous payments made in error.”
“The State Government, in an act of magnanimity, overlooked all previous payments made in error since October 2016, to staff members in the migration scheme due to the defective position of the unions before the approved implementation date of the State Executive Council.”
It was also stated that the management has put in place measures like, “immediate promotion of staff members that were due for the 2016/2017 appraisal year, immediate commencement of 2017/2018 appraisal, immediate implementation of annual increments from 2016 till date and payment of three months arrears of promotion to eligible staff members “to cushion the effects of the reversal of CONTISS 15 migration on the affected staff members of the Polytechnic.