By Adeola Badru
EIGHTY-NINE former members workers of Wesley College, Ondo in Ondo State have demanded the cost of their excellent salaries and entitlements owed between 2014 and 2019, saying failure to take action would compel them to consequence to authorized motion.
The aggrieved former workers of the college made the demand at a press convention held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday.
The previous workers, comprising the educational, administrative workers, lamented that the college had predicted its failure to pay their entitlements since 2014 upon the 2020 difficulties posed by the COVID-19 lockdown.
Talking by means of their lawyer, Mr Femi Aborisade, of the Abope Chambers, the affected former workers disclosed that they had been pressured to carry the matter “earlier than the courtroom of the general public” as a result of the college had repeatedly didn’t pay the cash.”
In an tackle on the event, Aborisade mentioned: “The gravamen of the case of our shoppers is that whereas Wesley College, Ondo employed them individually at varied occasions they usually labored for WUO rigorously with utmost efficiency all through the interval of their employment, the college has refused to pay their earned however unpaid entitlements.”
“They had been disengaged opposite to the contracts of the employment and regardless of the interventions of a number of our bodies, significantly the Nationwide Universities Fee.”
“In its letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the college dated July 19, 2018, the NUC was compelled, by its findings, to threaten the structure of a visitation panel to find out the viability of the college on the bottom of lingering subject of non-payment of salaries.”
A former appearing VC of the college, Prof. Olu-Aderounmu Williams, mentioned: “There isn’t any college within the nation right this moment that’s owing as a lot as Wesley College, Ondo owes presently. We hope that the college just isn’t pondering that by the point these being owed drop lifeless one after the other there could be nobody to agitate once more.”
“There was a time the college took a mortgage of N500 million. One would suppose that the college would have put aside, no less than, N200 million to pay the previous workers as a means of placating them.”
“When your workers are annoyed, it could rob the scholars. That has affected the scholar’s enrollment into the college.”
The previous Dean, School of Social and Administration Science, Prof. Adebowale Abiodun, who put the overall quantity owed the workers at N151, 271, 925.31, mentioned: “We had been paid one wage per quarter as workers of the college whereas working.”
“The 88 former workers symbolize about three/four of all the previous workers being owed, together with pioneer VC, former appearing VC and second Bursar. That the salaries owed lined 2914 to 2020. That the excuse of coronavirus pandemic just isn’t tenable, and that the variety of months owed the workers is between 5 to 29 months.”
Nevertheless, efforts to get a response from the college’s administration on the difficulty proved abortive.
A number of calls made to the Registrar of the college, Mrs Chioma Obasi, weren’t picked. Textual content message despatched to her phone line on the difficulty weren’t replied as of the time of submitting this report.
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