3 Delta State Owned College Of Education Sue Gov't Over Negligence

THE three Delta State-owned colleges of Education have threatened legal actions against the state government over its insensitivity to the plight of the workers.

The three colleges located in Agbor, Ika South; Warri, Warri South; and Mosogar, Ethiope West councils are on their fourth month old strike.

Mr. Imide Israel, the chairman, Negotiating Team, said the unions have no option than to head to the Industrial Court of Arbitration, Calabar to resolve the issues leading to the industrial action. He said the government has not lived up to the expectation of workers as regards the contributory pension scheme, adding that staff that retired in the last three years have become a ghost of their former selves due to the encumbrances that characterize access to the scheme.

Other grouse of the union, according to him, include the issues of haphazard implementation of migration to CONTESS 15 for deserving officers, adding that the personal interpretation given to documents from the National Commission for Colleges of Education by the Director of Prepayment Audit was a cause of concern.

Imide noted that the law was signed in 2008 while the Delta State government domesticated it in 2013, adding that the names of staff of the institution were forcefully removed from payroll without notice.

Imide frowned at the action of the director of Pre-payment Audit "who has unilaterally stopped some staff salaries that have not attained 65 years," adding that four years on, the account of staff of colleges of Education at Agbor and Warri are yet to be credited. He said sabbatical leave which is a universal academic activity has been "totally eroded by the Delta State Government", adding that "because of the removal of autonomy as a result of the forceful inclusion of colleges of Education system into the central pay system, our lecturers have not been going on sabbatical," adding that "this action by the state government kills the dream for research." He said the issue of irregular and excessive tax deductions has become an intractable problem, stressing that "the state government has bluntly and obstinately refused to correct the anomaly.