By Oyibo Salihu Lokoja
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Kogi state tertiary institutions yesterday rose from a meeting and announced the suspension, for four weeks, of their five months old strike. The strike which started January 31st, 2017 paralysed the state academic sector as many entreaties to resolve the lingering industrial action failed.
Addressing a press conference at the State Ministry of Education in Lokoja, the Chairman of the committee, Comrade Moses Balogun, disclosed that in view of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) jointly signed by the government council on education and state government representatives, “the industrial action has been suspended to create a window of opportunity for the government to act on their agreements”.
Balogun submitted that the government had agreed to implement payment of promotion and annual incremental steps, payment of 4.6 per cent earned allowance for non-teaching staff of the state polytechnic and review of edict establishing the Kogi state College of Nursing and Midwifery.
Others demands which the government has agreed to consider include upgrading of the of salary structure scale for the staff of Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, payment of arrears of responsibility allowance from July 2009 to deserving non teaching staff and employment of more qualified staff for the hospital. The state Commissioner for Education, Honourable Sunday Tolorunleke in an address confirmed the claims of the JAC chairman, just as he pledged that all the agreements will be met to forestall obstruction in the education sector.
