The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has suspended their 10-month old industrial action, but for 3-months. See details below:
The 11-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of
Polytechnics (ASUP) is over, at least for now.
The union suspended the strike yesterday for three months to
enable the federal government address the issues that led to the strike.
ASUP National President, Dr. Chibuzor Asomugha, told The
Nation on phone that the ýunion took the action to give the new Minister of
Education, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, who took office on Wednesday the
benefit of the doubt.
“We met with the Minister on Thursday and he pleaded with us
to give him time to address the issues and we have agreed to do so,” he said.
The lecturers are expected to resume work on Tuesday.
Shekarau hailed the ASUP leadership for its “commitment to
the cause of education in general and in particular, the wellbeing of our
polytechnics which I always refer to as the engine room of our technological
growth and development.”
The country, he said, “cannot afford to ignore the
polytechnics…we cannot grow without the manpower being produced by the
polytechnics,” and added: “I am happy you noted that I am just coming in;
and I will need a little more time to study the issues on ground and see how
much we can get out of all the issues you raised. The issues you have raised as
far as I am concerned are not totally insurmountable. They are issues that will
lead to dialogue, understanding with the spirit of give and take.”
Previous talks between the union and the Minister of State
for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, were deadlocked owing to what ASUP
described as a “deliberate failure” by the government to address its 13
demands.
These include: an end to the discrimination against
polytechnic graduates in the Public Service and in the labour market;
release of the White Paper on the Visitations to Federal Polytechnics;
implementation of CONTISS 15 migration for the lower cadres and its arrears as
from 2009; establishment of a National Polytechnics Commission (NPC) as a
regulatory body for Polytechnics.
Others are: review of the Polytechnic Act, improved funding
of the polytechnic sub-sector and equitable disbursements of TETfund grants
among universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The strike started in April 2013 and was first
suspended on July 17, 2013 following the intervention of the Senate Committee
on Education only to resume October 4, 2013 when the union was dissatisfied
with ýthe slow pace of the implementation.
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the Colleges of
Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) is to meet with Shekarau on Thursdayý
to discuss their strike, which is over nine months.
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