BY  GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO—Academic activities at the four tertiary institutions owned by Osun State Government were yesterday, grounded as the teachers yesterday began an indefinite strike.

The affected institutions are Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Osun State College of Technology, OSCOTECH, Esa-Oke, Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun and that of Ilesa.

The teachers had earlier embarked on two-day a week warning strike for three consecutive weeks before declaration of total strike.

The lecturers are demanding among other things, the elongation of service of academic staff from 60 years to 65 years which they claimed most tertiary institutions in the country were already complying with it.

But Governor Rauf Aregbesola has described this demand as unreasonable in an economy where over 60 per cent of Nigerian youths are unemployed, saying only the state lawmakers can make such change through a legislation.

The aggrieved teachers are also demanding remittances of their contributory pension, alleging that since February 2012 when the scheme was adopted in the state, their 7.5 per cent contribution had not been remitted by the state government despite deducting same from their salaries.

The lecturers are also complaining of the 20 per cent tax deducted from their salaries, noting that what the state government was deducting was huge.

The Public Relations Officer, PRO, of the Council of Academic Staff Union of Tertiary Institutions in Osun State, Mr. Dotun Omisore, confirmed the strike, saying “there is no going back on the action.”

Speaking on the development, Commissioner for Information, Sunday Akere, said there was industrial dispute between the union and the government and pleaded with the teachers to exercise patience in the interest of the students and people of the state.