The ongoing protest at Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, (RUGIPO )Ondo State by workers has been described as pure resistance to innovative Anti-corruption concept being introduced by the Acting Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Dr.(Mrs.) Olubunmi Omoniyi.
Disclosing this on Sunday while addressing journalists in Akure, the state capital, Dr. Omoniyi said the institution is neck-deep in financial mess as it generates near-zero internal revenue.
She revealed that RUGIPO has overdrawn its subvention by two months, besides the pending N80m loan debt it accessed from a commercial.
Workers of the institution have been on rampage for about three days alleging the acting Chairman of the school’s Governing Council of preventing them to be paid their salaries.
The acting Chairman of the Governing Council revealed that when she was appointed by the state government to took lead the Governing Council in acting capacity in August 2023, she has appealed to the state government after convening in September to release money to the institution and was able to defray three out of the 13 months backlog of workers salaries.
When she discovered through the media that the workers were protesting and alleging her of withholding their salaries, she was surprised.
Meanwhile, Dr. Omoniyi said she suspected that those who didn’t want new principal officers to be recruited because of their selfish interest are probably the brain behind the protest.
Besides, she also came up with the idea that all payments in the institution should be made automated, this is also being resisted by people who are fleecing the institution which had made it impossible for it to generate revenue to augment its subvention to be able to pay staff salaries.
The associate professor from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko(AAUA) disclosed that the state government has intervened and there would be a way forward.
According to her, “By the time we reconvened in September 2023, we had 13 months arrears unpaid to the staff in RUGIPO. With our goodwill, meeting people here and there, 3 months were paid to them. That was why the 13 months was reduced to 10.
“When we came on board, we discovered that all the principal officers on ground, their tenure would expire on October 9, 2023. We swung into action and we put an advert which lasted for six weeks in national dailies, during the process of our advertisement, we appointed acting principal officers.
“Our council chose some people to do the screening which was done and a total of N3.1 million was approved by the Acting Rector for logistics for consultants from the Federal and State polytechnics to carry out the appointment of substantive principal officers.
“To our dismay, we heard a lot of rumours that it was N24 million, some said N50 million. We have records where the N3.1 million was approved. How can we approve N24 or N50 million for appointment process when the institution cannot even generate up to N5million.
“When we wanted to commence the procedure, we heard that we should move from Owo, and history had it that in 2019 when they wanted to appoint principal officers, it was done in Akure. Before the scheduled date, I started receiving a lot of petitions from all over the country with fabricated and malicious stories about me and the Council.
“This 12th Governing Council, we met again to discuss how we are going to conduct the principal officers’ interview exercise amidst several petitions and allegations flying around.
“Personally, as I am talking with you, RUGIPO receives their salaries as at when due. When the Union met with me in November, I told them that I had been able to go round lobbying for 3months salaries to be paid. I made them realise that the present government is not owing them. This salaries owed accumulated since 2014 under previous administration.
“There was a time they (previous management/governing council) also borrowed N8million to pay salary at the polytechnic, which other institutions in the state did not borrow from the bank. All these things have generated a lot of unrest in the institution.
“Other institutions when they get their subvention, they augment with their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). But for this very institution (RUGIPO), we don’t have IGR and the way of generating IGR is not forthcoming from any of them.
“At the meeting with members of the council, they asked how we are going to get 10 months salaries paid, I told them we would beg the government to pay because presently they have exhausted their subvention (for 2023). Instead of 12 months, they have got 14 months of subvention. And we were informed that they cannot get additional ones. I said we would beg so that government can assist us to defray this debt and that is the situation on ground.
“To my dismay, I heard they went on rampage with NASU chanting my name and that I am sitting on their money. I don’t know how a Council Chairman will sit on salaries not to be paid. As I am speaking with you, I don’t have any record of accounts of the institution or any member of my council don’t know anything about their account records.
“Apart from our sitting allowance which had been budgeted for, we have never collected a dime from any quarter at the institution. All efforts to get the polytechnic to generate IGR are being frustrated by the system.
“The government has intervened and asked us to put the interview on hold and we have done that. I think the matter should be put to rest for a while but some are still going about trying to malign my name.
“I think if they want to go on rampage, they should inform me and dialogue to see what we can do about it if they have not been masterminded by some people who do not want the interview of appointing new principal officers to be held, so that we would not have substantive principal officers.”
A member of the Governing Council, Hon. Olumuyiwa Asagunla, who was with her noted that the implementation of automated payments, digital result uploads are sacrosanct with a view to enhancing the institution’s IGR.
He also called for support to the Governing Council in its drive to take the institution to a pedestal that would make it be at par with its contemporaries anywhere in the world.
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