Staff of the Ondo State owned Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo have now been paid Three months salary arrears out of the 13 months the government is owing them.
To this end, one of the concerned staff of the institution, Jide Ogidan while appreciating the efforts of the individuals that made the payment of their arrears a reality, quickly warned that the coast is not yet clear, since 10-month salary arrears is yet to be paid.
Read the opinion below:
An Open Letter to the Congressmen and Women
ASUP’s 13-month Salary Arrears: When Opportunity Beckons
Our elders say that it is the man with thorns in his foot who must limp to meet the person who has a needle for help. God has helped us to locate a set of people who have the magic fingers to help us as a Union. We must thank first God and those who intervened in our salary pickle.
We should thank the Acting Governor, H.E. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, former Head of Service, Mr Dare Aragbaye, NLC, TUC, Commissioner for Finance; Mr Wale Akinterinwa, our Students’ Union leaders, the Accountant-General and other critical stakeholders. God will bless you all. A dog does not forget a person who has been kind to him, hence he shakes his tail around when the kind person returns from a journey. We must wholeheartedly thank them.
The promised three-month salary arrears have been paid. We sincerely thank those mediators. RUGIPO shall work again!
It is a known fact that workers in RUGIPO have 13 month arrears, but three months had been paid. It remains 10 months. Our elders say that “Ìyá àjé kú, e n yò, omo tó fi sílè n ko? The old witch dies, you are rejoicing, what of the children she left behind?” The payment of three-month salaries is not up to half of the remaining percentage. We should not be hauled away with the ecstasy and satisfaction of just three months’ payment and neglect the remaining 10 months.
To the members of the executive, we give kudos to you all. God will bless you. Your sacrifices are appreciated. You have worked and achieved. We deeply appreciate you for what you have done as at today. But it is not yet Uhuru! There is still much more to be done. The battle is not yet over. The struggle continues! Our elders say, if a gun is fired, it must be reloaded.
To all the financial members of ASUP (Owo Chapter), we are making progress on the struggle ahead. God is good to us. We shall live in good health to collect all our salary arrears. This arduous time shall become a story soon.
It is a known fact that we have been subjected to goofy, illogical, incongruous unthinkable, ludicrous and absurd treatment for long. We have seen hell and lo and behold, we finally woke up! We shall overcome! We all need to be resolute, determined courageous, dogged, firm, fixed, intrepid, loyal, persistent, persisting, purposeful, relentless and resolved in our cooperative and collective stride in demanding for the remaining 10-month salary arrears.The opportunity is right here with us.
Now that the promised three-month salary arrears have been paid, we should be farsighted, clairvoyant, prescient and proactive in our approach to get the remaining 10 months paid before it is too late. Now that the window of opportunity has presented itself, we must make judicious and sensible use of such a unique opportunity that beckons.
The naked and obvious truth is that: if we do further robust and intellectual engagement more and more, another set of payments is not unthinkable and inevitable. Our elders say that nobody can better describe to the bat what goes on in the night period. Nobody knows what goes on in government office cum budgets than those “god-sent” arbitrators who intervened in our labyrinth.
Again our elders say that a person who wants a piece of meat from the hunter must visit him regularly. This set of ambassadors has done exquisite well. We must hold them in high reverence and use them in the collection of the remaining 10-month arrears.
Arising from the premises above, I invincibly and strongly offer the following down-to-earth suggestions as we look forward to solving or getting out of the 10-month accumulated salary morass:
a. ASUP (Owo Chapter) must as matters of necessity appreciate those people who intervened, promised and fulfilled their promises.
b. Pragmatic efforts should be made now to enter into a substantial, cinch and workable agreement on the payment of the remaining 10-month salary arrears.
c. The proposed agreement should include WHEN and HOW the remaining 10-month arrears shall be paid.
d. The proposed agreement should include a time frame for the payment of the remaining 10-month arrears.
e. I strongly recommend that a member or two (to be nominated by the Congress) with legal knowledge should be incorporated into the process of drafting, writing and signing the proposed payment agreement.
On a final reminder on this, as we are being paid the promised three-month salary arrears; we should not be carried away with these drops of water (three months) while the downpour (10 months) is yet to come. The unique opportunity we have now should be utilized to the maximum. Those who negotiated with us seem to have the ears of the government. They are the opportunity that beckon. Because our elders say that “eni bá ti róyún Fúlàní yoo ri mo pé pupa ni yoo bí. (He who sees a Fulani with pregnancy knows she is going to bear a fair complexioned child.” It is obvious now that those people can make things happen in this State. Working closely with them will take RUGIPO out of this present salary stalemate.
We must be reminded that it is sweetness that accompanies the bitterness of the bitter leaf.
Jide Ogidan,
Concerned Stakeholders in ASUP.
7th August 2023.
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