KOGI State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has claimed that there has been no strike action in the state-owned tertiary institutions since he became the governor in 2016.
He made the claim on the 7th of June 2022 while canvassing for delegates’ support at the just-concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) convention held in Abuja.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, today, we have a lot of our students from various tertiary institutions at home; they are not in the school. Their future is being toiled with. When I assumed office in Kogi state, six years down the line, no strike of any sort are existing in Kogi state,” Bello told the delegates at the event live-streamed on Arise News TV.
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He was sworn in as the governor of Kogi State in January 2016 for a four-year term. He assumed office again on the 27th of January 2020, after winning his return election for a second term.
Bello was one of the presidential aspirants under the platform of the APC who lost to the now declared presidential candidate of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, The ICIR reported.
CLAIM
“When I assumed office in Kogi state, six years down the line, no strike of any sort are existing in Kogi state,” Bello claimed.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
In July 2016, a few months after Bello became the state governor, academic and non-academic activities at the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja were paralysed as the two unions in the institution joined the ongoing strike called by the organised labour in the state, the Nigerian Tribune reported.
The unions involved were the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Kogi Poly chapter.
Checks by The FactCheckHub also show that in 2017, academic and non-academic staff unions of Kogi state-owned tertiary institutions went on a 5-month strike.
The tertiary institutions namely; Kogi State University Ayingba, Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja, College of Education Ankpa, College of Education (Technical) Kabba, and College of Nursing Obangede, were all affected by the strike action.
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The strike which commenced on the 31st of January 2017, ended on the 21st of June 2017 after the Chairman, Joint Action Committee of the tertiary institutions, Moses Balogun, announced the suspension of the strike action, following an agreement reached with the Bello-led state government, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Further findings revealed that the Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja chapter of the ASUP also embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-payment of salaries on September 11, 2017, Daily Trust reported.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Kogi state-owned tertiary institutions have never been on strike since Yahaya Bello assumed office as the state governor is FALSE; available public records show that there have been at least three strike actions embarked upon by the tertiary institutions in the last six years.
