Unions of tertiary institutions in Kwara State comprising four state-owned colleges of Education and Islamic Studies have embarked on another indefinite strike, a statement in Ilorin on Sunday said.

The statement signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Committee of Unions of Tertiary Institution in Kwara State, Alhaji Saad Hadi, and Alhaji AbdulKareem Kanike respectively, which was made available to journalists on Sunday in Ilorin, the state capital, said the strike had already commenced on Friday.

The unions, which included members of College of Education Association Staff Union; Non-Academic Staff Union; Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education of the state Colleges of Education, Ilorin, Oro and Lafiagi, and College of Islamic Studies, Ilorin, are demanding the implementation of the 100 per cent payment of CONPCASS and CONTEDISS with payment of arrears from January 2009.

They accused the Kwara State Government of reneging on its agreement to pay the new salary under the pretence that the government officials that signed the agreement with the union on March 29, 2011 did so under political tension. The unions said the posture was “shameful and unacceptable.”

They also said officials of the state were being deceitful and insensitive to the plight of the union members and the affected students of the institutions, adding that the agreement signed with the workers of the tertiary institutions included the retirement age of the academic staff which is now fixed at 65 years.

The statement said the union leaders decided to call off the strike which commenced on January 2011 following the agreement signed with the workers on March 29, 2011 by some government officials.

It added that the agreement which was signed on March by 23 unions from the four tertiary institutions and was also signed on behalf of the state government by the Head of Service, Alhaji Mohammed Dabarako and the former Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, was now allegedly being denied by the state government.”

“The state government had approved the payment of 100 percent Consolidated Teachers Salary Structure and 50 percent Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale with effect from May 1, 2011 but refused to implement it,” the statement said.

The unions also alleged that the government had directed the ministry to embark on retrenchment of staff as a condition to pay the new salary structure, saying it was against the promise made by the government not to victimise any staff that participated in the strike.

The unions noted that they rejected all the conditions given by the state government through the Head of Service and therefore appealed to well meaning citizens of the state to intervene and prevail on government to stop playing “politics with the future of students of the affected institutions.”