The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday moved to wade into the crisis rocking the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) due to disagreement between the management and staff of the institution.
This followed a motion moved by the Majority Leader, Mr Sanai Agunbiade, and seconded by Mr Adedamola Kasunmu, the Chairman, House Committee on Youths, Sports and Social Development.
Agunbiade (APC-Ikorodu I) said that LASPOTECH had been embroiled in crisis, which had paralysed academic activities, requiring intervention of the House.
He said that the issue had remained unresolved for the past five months, and the rancor had been affecting students and their parents.
Agunbiade recalled that similar crisis came up in Lagos State University (LASU) in the past which the House was able to intervene and got resolved.
Corroborating Agunbiade, Mr Olanrewaju Ogunyemi, the Chairman, House Committee on Education disclosed that his committee had initiàted a move to resolve the issue, but it failed.
Ogunyemi said that the State Government took the staff union to industrial court, but the issue remained unresolved as the court gave a ruling for status quo to remain.
In his comment, Mr Tunde Braimoh, the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Public Petitions and LASIEC, said that his committee had received two petitions over the crisis.
According to him, the staff union alleged that the school management used executive fiat to arrest its members.
He lamented that students who were already graduates did not get their certificates due to the crisis.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, directed the House Committees on Education and Judiciary to work together on how to resolve the crisis and report back in two weeks.
Meanwhile, four bills scaled through second reading on the floor of the House and were committed to relevant committees to report back in a week.
The bills are: the Lagos State Public Finance Management, 2011, the Urban and Regional Planning Amendment Bill, 2018, the Lagos State Employment Bill, 2018 and the Electric Power Sector Reform Bill, 2018.
The lawmakers also took turns to pay tribute to late Oba Olatunji Hamzat, the father of the state Deputy Gov.-elect, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, for his contributions to democratic development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oba Hamzat was, until his death on Sunday evening at 86, the traditional ruler of Afowowa Kingdom in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun.
