By: Femi-Adeniyi Joshua

The National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT) on Thursday, 29th August, 2024, staged a peaceful protest to press home its demands for fair treatment, INDYPRESS reports.

The protest, which coincides with the meeting of the University’s Governing Council took place at the Adeoye Lambo Senate Chamber.

The members of the association carried placards with inscriptions like “Broken promises, broken trust; Respect our 2009 agreement; We deserve the best, our members have been stagnated for over a decade, give us our rights now; and Government is a continuum. No reversal to council decision”.

The protest, according to some of its participants, was to decry the University’s failure to correctly implement the 2009 agreement that was signed by the Federal Government and the staff union, as approved by the University Governing Council in 2022.

The agreement was a decision with regards to the promotion capacity of the Academy Technicians that set the cap at level 15 instead of the previous limit of level 13.

While speaking to IndyPress, one of the protesters explained that the university faltered in its implementation of the agreement in the sense that it advertised the new positions (levels 14 and 15) as vacancies and not promotions.

“It is not an appointment, it is a promotion” the respondent said.

The respondent also decried the unfairness of the situation stating that their colleagues in other universities have already benefited from the promotion agreement while some of their members have been stuck on a spot for decades.

It was also clarified that the protest was embarked upon after other means of redress have been tried.

The respondent furthermore said that the association was ready to dialogue with the governing council over the issues of conflict.