Protests hit Kwara over unpaid salaries, poor governance

Union leaders and members of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, as well as members and supporters of Good Governance Forum on Wednesday protested in Kwara State.


Members of the College of Education Academic Staff Union protested at the gate of  Kwara State College of Education, while members of the Good Governance Forun marched on many streets in Ilorin, including Taiwo and Unity roads.

COEASU Chairman, Dr Mamman Saba, said members of the union were being owed many months of salaries.

He also complained of dilapidated offices, toilets, hostels, classrooms, lack of water and electricity supply, as well as unsafe environment.

He lamented alleged poor staff welfare, which he said include promotion without financial backing, non-gazetting of 40/65 years in service, non-payment of October 2015 incremental salary till date, promotion of staff from 2012 without change in salary and threat of retrenchment.

He said, “The management is financially incapacitated to run the college with internally generated revenue. So, subvention should be restored to the college.”

Members of the Good Governance Forum displayed placards with messages, including ‘Water reticulation since 1993, no water,’ ‘$60m loan is for slavery,’ and ‘N5,000 bursary for students during holiday is a scam.’

A member of the forum, Mr. Iyiola Oyedepo, said  Kwara State had been misgoverned.

He stated that people were suffering in the state while white elephant projects, which had no direct impact on the people were being executed at the detriment of the masses.

He stated that residents of the state had been subjected to hardship, adding that people must demand good governance and accountability.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, said the state government was committed to educational development and good governance.

He said the government had invested so much in education and welfare of the people, adding that the current financial challenge in the nation had not enabled the government to execute all its “lofty projects.”

He appealed to the state reidents to bear with the government, saying strategies were being initiated to address some of the challenges in the state.

Oba said, “We are committed to education and infrastructural development, as well as good governance in the state.

“We will do everything humanly possible to take Kwara State to the next level.

“The challenge we have in the country made the complaints in the education sector inevitable.

“The challenges we are going through in the country is temporary. Soon, we will get over it and we will do the needful. Government is committed to good governance.”