ASUP MOBILISE FOR STRIKE AS ULTIMATUM EXPIRES
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October 23 is the deadline for the Federal Government to comply with the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics’ (ASUP) 15-day ultimatum.
The union had threatened to go on strike if the government did not address the controversial new service plan for teachers at polytechnics nationwide.
More instructors are supporting the ASUP National Executive Council’s (NEC) plan to encourage members to resign their positions as the deadline draws near.
The controversial concerns in the new rules have not yet been addressed by the government, according to Dr. Iloma Richard, ASUP Zone D Coordinator, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
According to Richard, the Federal Government’s involvement, which required the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to examine the contentious rules, caused ASUP to halt its planned industrial action on July 22.
“The strike was suspended to create the necessary environment for the speedy resolution of all contentious issues through stakeholders engagement process.
“Regrettably, as I speak, no progress has been made in this direction due to the obvious reluctance of NBTE.
“The union has also noted, with regret, a similar attitude of the government towards other welfare needs of the union’s members,” he said.
The union head drew attention to the purported lack of quality control in polytechnic education and issued a warning that the country’s technical and vocational education system would collapse if this trend continued.
He said that after ASUP’s NEC publishes such a decision, polytechnic teachers in Zone D, which includes the South-South and South-East states, would cease to work.
“This position has been articulated by our national leadership and formally communicated to all relevant authorities, with a subsisting 15-day ultimatum effective from Oct. 8.
“We shall not hesitate to swiftly mobilise our members from all chapters in the zone if, upon the expiration of the ultimatum, NEC directs any form of industrial action,” Richard added.
According to NAN, the delayed stakeholder participation on the scheme of service and the non-release of the stakeholders-validated Condition of Service for polytechnics are among the controversial aspects of the new scheme.
The Federal Polytechnic Act’s conflicting provisions and the laws establishing state-owned institutions, especially with regard to the nomination of principal officers, are further problems.
Concerns were also expressed regarding the postponed implementation of a 35 percent and 25 percent salary review for state-owned polytechnics and the federal polytechnics’ arrears discharge.
Among other things, ASUP called for the prompt seizure of members’ unusual academic allowance and the distribution of a second tranche of the NEEDS Assessment intervention grant.
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