The workers of the Model Basic School, Kwara State College of Education have accused the Kwara government owes them 36 months’ salaries as they protested in front of the provost’s office.
“Our salary was changed to no scale level, a situation whereby we were not being paid on the level used by the college and not on grade level used by the state. But when we complained, a delegation was sent to screen and interview us and our data were collected, yet nothing was heard about it.
“When we went back, we discovered that the college said they cannot allow the state government to take over the school because it is a laboratory for the college and there is no way the laboratory can be separated from the college. The money we are generating from the school goes directly to the college and we still don’t get salary and our infrastructure are dilapidated,” one of the workers, Lawal Abdulrazaq, said.
Reacting to their protest, the college’s provost, Prof. Abdulraheem Yusuf, said, “I was surprised when I heard that they were in front of my office protesting with the pupils because I already informed them about the meeting and urged to remain calm to know the outcome of the meeting.
“It is a problem I inherited and I have tried to resolve it. It was the college problem but when I asked management why are they were not being paid by the college, they brought out a White Paper by a visitation panel set up by the government that they should be self-sustaining, but they have less than 100 pupils.
“The panel also advised the government to take over the schools both the secondary and primary sessions and that is what we will be discussing during the meeting, so I don’t know why they still went ahead with the protest.”
