MEMBERS of staff of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin have rejected the purported reappointment of Mr ISSA Aremu as Director-General of the premier labour institute citing serious alleged financial misappropriation, neglect of staff welfare, verbal abuse, and flagrant abuse of public service rules.
Leaders of the three in-house unions comprising of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), Senior Staff Association of Universities,Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRAI), and the Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) made this appeal during a joint action meeting to update their members on the latest developments on their struggles in the Institute.
The Chairmen of the three unions, Comrades Ruth Ejechi, Abdulmajeed Dele Idris and Joel Afolayan respectively, bemoaned the level of the infrastructural decay the institute had suffered within the four years of Mr Aremu’s tenure, lamenting the huge loss of patronage the Institute had recorded within the period due to this challenge.
The workers appealed to the President to give attention to their agitations submitted to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment when considering who to appoint to man the affairs of the institute.
While noting that the Institute boasts of seasoned and dedicated human resources who have continued to show unwavering commitment to the realization of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the union leaders decried Mr Aremu’s style of leadership as the only stumbling block hindering the progress of the Institute.
The union leaders frowned at the level of impunity with which the immediate past DG ran his tenure, alleging that he had always boasted that he does not need the Minister of Labour and Employment to get reappointed.
While lamenting that despite the annual appropriation and release of funds for staff capacity development, the union leaders alleged that Mr Aremu had blatantly ignored that area.
The organized labour unions further appealed to the President to look inwards and consider individuals with requisite cognate experience in training and research for appointment as a way of salvaging the Institute.
