Polytecnic Strike: Oyo State appoints Prof. Olatunde Fawole as Rector

The Oyo State Government has appointed Prof. Olatunde Fawole as the Rector of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

The development comes less than a week after students protested against the strike embarked upon by their lecturers since December 2013. The strike has led to the collapse of academic activities in the institution.

Fawole until his appointment was a Professor of Biological Sciences at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso.

A statement issued on Sunday in Ibadan by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Prof. Solomon Olaniyonu, added that Mr. Ayodele Fehintola was appointed the Registrar of the institution.

Other appointments were Mr. Tiamiyu Adeniyi who was named bursar while Hammed Bakare and Oyetoso John were appointed Librarian and Director of Works of the institution respectively.

The commissioner said Governor Abiola Ajimobi approved the appointment of the five principal officers of the institution as a necessary move toward resolving the crisis at the institution.

He also said the appointments took immediate effect.

The students had appealed to the state government to accede to the requests of the lecturers in order to restore normalcy and academic activities at the institution.

The PUNCH had also reported that the chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, in the institution, Segun Philip, had said, “What we are asking for is the 40 per cent balance of hazard allowance that was agreed to in June 2013. There is under-payment of 70 per cent academic allowance for lecturers.”

The commissioner said that government, based on the issues raised by  the students, met the institution’s management and agreed to address the issues.

According to him, while the remaining 40 per cent hazard allowance of the lecturers had been paid, the state government also ordered that the amount due for “Peculiar Honoraria” be calculated and paid within 90 days.

Peculiar honoraria is the allowance due to lecturers who supervise students’ thesis, industrial attachment, project supervision and allied projects.

The commissioner also said the state government would soon reconstitute the council of the institution.

Source: Punch