Polytechnic teachers begin strike Wednesday
Following
inconclusive discussions with the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim
Shekarau, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has resolved to
proceed on an indefinite strike, with effect from February 25, 2015.
On that day, the 14-day ultimatum earlier issued to the Federal Government would have effectively elapsed.
The latest action is sequel to the
suspension of the implementation of CONTISS 15 salary structure in all
the polytechnics through a circular by the Minister of Education,
directing that the special salary scale be discontinued without
explanations.
The President of ASUP, Mr. Chibuzor
Asomugha, at a press briefing after the union’s National Executive
Council meeting held on Saturday in Abuja, directed its members
nationwide to proceed on the indefinite strike.
He also berated the Federal Government
for lacking the political will to implement demands of ASUP which,
according to him, were capable of revamping the technical education
sector.
Asomugha said it was unfortunate that
government and its officials “only shiver when members of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities go on strike because of the direct
implication it may have on their children.”
The
ASUP president said advanced countries of the world were doing better
because they had taken full advantage of the polytechnic system of
education.
He said, “You will recall that in 2012,
our union placed a 13-point demand portfolio before the government for
negotiation and subsequent implementation. Most of these demands were
carryover from the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and
ASUP.
“Some of these demands include the
continued discrimination against polytechnic graduates in the public
service and in the labour market in Nigeria; non-release of the White
Paper on the visitation to the federal polytechnics; non-implementation
of CONTISS 15 migration for the lower cadres and its arrears as from
2009 when the salary structure was approved; and non-establishment of a
National Polytechnics Commission and the wrongful continued recognition
of the National Board for Technical Education as the regulatory body for
polytechnics.
“The failure of the government to attend
to these demands led to a series of strike actions we had embarked upon
between 2013 and 2014. The polytechnic sector is still undergoing a
frenzied recovery from the scars of that engagement. As we have always
stated, the sordid experience our sector went through in recent times
was avoidable if the government had deployed proactive measures in
addressing the issues in disputes.
“In view of these developments and also
in view of the failure of the government to honour agreement with our
union, we hereby resolved as follows: That at the expiration of the
two-week ultimatum, our union has issued to the government beginning
from February 11, 2015, on the pending issues, ASUP shall embark on an
indefinite strike action until all the ongoing anomalies in our
polytechnics are addressed and the 13-point demand pending before the
government implemented.”
Speaking on the postponement of the
general elections, ASUP said the political gladiators were unnecessarily
over-heating the polity by neglecting other core sectors of the economy
to suffer unjustly.
The PUNCH recalls that ASUP and
the Federal Government had been in conflict since 2009 over issues
relating to the implementation of the white paper emanating from the
NEEDS assessment visitation panels sent to the polytechnics by the
government.
