BY MUSLIUDEEN ADEBAYO, IIJ, IBADAN

A student group under the aegis of the Federation of Oyo State Students Union (FOSSU), National Council, has appealed to striking workers and the Oyo State Government to as a matter of urgency resolve the impasse between them over issues of minimum wage in the interest of students and the state at large.

The union, which is the umbrella body of students of the state studying in various tertiary institutions across the country, made their position known through its president, Ahmad Olansile.

Olasile, while addressing newsmen in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, shortly after the union led a peaceful protest to Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) last Friday, said that the strike action will do more harm than good to the state’s education sector.

It would be recalled that workers in the state put down their tools since last two weeks in rejection of the new minimum wage presented by the state government.

Olansile said the union in the interest of the state in general advised both parties to resolve the impasse without further delay.

He said: “The government is hereby advised to open fresh negotiation with labour for amicable resolution,   labour on the other hand should see this issue as a win-win situation since the government for the first time in the history of the state, has addressed labour on Monday, 24th March, 2012 and urged them to accept the offer in the interest of the state and not to see it as a win-lose struggle.” He advised both parties to  accept to shift grounds in the interest of the state.

The position of the union, according to him, is that the state belongs to everybody irrespective of any position, that the union should accept the scale since the government cannot use 100 per cent of the state resources to pay workers’ salaries.

The union has appealed to labour to cooperate with government to move the state forward. “We urge the government to as a matter of urgency open room for further negotiation which we hope labour will as well embrace for the sake of peace and tranquility as he seized the opportunity to appeal to labour not to use any politician to foment trouble in the state,” said Olansile.