The 37 teachers recently sacked from the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos State, have pleaded with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to save them from starvation and untimely death.
Their spokesman, Gabriel Oguntuase, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Mr Oguntuase said that the affected teachers were initially employed as staff of the institution.
He said they were later moved to teach in the primary and secondary schools section of the institution, while the remaining staff were given harmonisation letter as a bona fide staff of the college.
Mr Oguntuase said that their ordeals started in 2010 when their promotions in the two schools they were posted to, primary and secondary, were stopped. “We wrote so many letters to the management on the matter, but we got no response.
“This continued until 2015 when our salaries were reduced by more than half, and all benefits due to us as statutory employees were taken away.
“From then onward, we were deprived of all allowances, including annual increment
“Then, on May 2, 2019, the council and management of the institution terminated our employment, giving redundancy as the reason without following the rule of redundancy.
“It is indeed unfit for a College of Education, which prides itself as a foremost teachers training institute in Nigeria, to expose its teachers to the kind of horrific experience we are undergoing,” he said.
Mr Oguntuase appealed to the governor and the good people of the state to intervene and save them from the inhuman treatment meted out to them.
“We are teachers, and we are Nigerians. We don’t deserve the treatment we are getting from the management of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin.
“Where do we go from here, after using our youthful energy, giving the whole of our productive years to building and moulding lives? Ours should not be doomed to perpetual slavery and miseries.
“We have worked diligently between 10 and 27 years with letters of recommendation given to us by the management council of the school.
“We went to schools like every other professional, and we deserve every bit of our benefits.
“We have our appointment, confirmation and promotion letters duly signed by the college.
“AOCOED should not be allowed to take away what belongs to us.
“Please, our amiable governor, save us and our dependants from starvation and sudden death,” the teachers’ leader pleaded.
He said they should have emulated the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, that moved all their teaching staff from the staff school to various departments and units in the college without slashing their salaries.