Pension: Osun lecturers tackle Aregbesola over non-remittance

The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Mr. Dotun Omisore, has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of withholding contributory pension fund deducted from the salaries of the institution’s lecturers.

Omisore told our correspondent on Thursday in Osogbo that the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions had held several meetings with Aregbesola on the issue, but the governor failed to implement the agreement reached with the unions.

Omisore said that lecturers suspended a five-month-old strike on July 17, 2014 after reaching some agreements with the state government.

He, however, said the governor breached almost all the agreements reached with the unions.

Omisore said, “We began to participate in the contributory pension
scheme from May 1, 2010 but the state government has failed to remit the pensions deducted from our salaries to our retirement savings accounts.

Remittance of contributions both by employers and employees to our respective Pension Fund Administrators is very irregular and this contravenes the Pension Reform Act.

“This practice is illegal and we are ready to drag the governor to the court. The court will decide if it is legal for him to deduct our pension and refuse to remit it.”

The Chairman of CASUOSOTI, Mr. Lasisi Jimoh, had said lecturers in colleges of education and polytechnics in the state had started two days warning strike every week to press home their demands until the government acceded to them.