The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has said it will embark on strike with effect from November 13, 2017 to press for the implementation of its agreement with the government. It accused the government of treating polytechnic education with disdain and levity. Rising from an emergency meeting on Monday in Abuja, the ASUP National President, Usman Dutse, said his union would commence an indefinite strike after the expiration of its earlier 21 days ultimatum. He noted that the conciliatory meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour failed to produce a positive result “because the Ministry of Education was not interested in resolving the dispute. ”The ASUP leader also accused the government of using endless verification to delay the payment of entitlements of members of the union. He stated that the union was not against the verification, but he added that it should not be used to deny workers their rights. He said that despite the 21 days’ notice given to the government, it did not consider it necessary to address the demands for an improved funding of polytechnic education in the country. Dutse said, “Our union is therefore constrained to lament again that our sector is on the verge of collapse and needs all the emergency attention it deserves. “Until now, it should be noted that the issues raised here today have been there since 2014and none of them has since been concretely resolved to improve the sector. ”He identified the issues to include non-implimentation of the NEEDS assessment report which recommended the injection of N6.5 billion into the polytechnic education in 2014, adding that this has risen to about N8bn now. He also mentioned the non-passage of the Amendment Bill of the Polytechnics Act. “The delay and indifference to the passage of this bill is viewed as a ploy to fester chaos and continued crises in the sector,” Dutse stressed.

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics ( ASUP ) is set to embark on an indefinite strike action with effect from Monday, November 13, 2017 to press for the implementation of its agreement with government, accusing government of treating polytechnic education with disdain and levity.

Rising from the emergency meeting of its National Executive Council, ASUP said it has no choice than to embark on an indefinite strike after the expiration of its earlier 21 days ultimatum, adding that the conciliatory meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour failed to produce positive result because the Ministry of Education was not interested in resolving the dispute.

National President of ASUP, Comrade Usman Y. Dutse also accused the government of using endless verification exercises to delay the payment of entitlements of members of the union, adding that while the union is not against government carrying out verification exercises, it should not endless and the exercise should not be used to denied workers their rights.

He said that despite the 21 days notice given to the government, they did not consider it necessary to address their demands for an improved funding of polytechnic education in the country.

Read also: ASUP urges Abia to pay poly staff

Dutse said “Our union is therefore constrained to lament again that our sector is on the verge of collapse and needs all the emergency attention it urgently deserves. Until now, it should be noted that the issues raised here today have been there since 2014 and none of these issues has since 2014 been concretely resolved to improve the sector.

“It is against this background that we wish to remind governments at all levels and indeed all Nigerians that we cannot continue to be complacent in the face of imminent and seemly strategic annihilation of a sector that feeds and caters for millions of youths and families. A sector that if well harnessed will boost Nigeria’s technological know–how, improve ICT, create millions of employment opportunities and raise the level of both theoretical and practical technological literacy.”

Some of the issues include the non implementation of the NEEDS assessment report recommended the injection of N6.5 billion int the polytechnic education in 2014, adding that this has risen to about N8 billion, adding that without Imo,emerging the report, the essence of using tax payers money to embark on the exercise is wasted.

He said the issues also include the Non – passage of the Amendment Bill of the Polytechnics Act, adding that “the delay and indifference to the passage of this bill is viewed as a ploy to fester chaos and continued crises in the sector. Recall that this bill passed through public hearing since December 2016. One wonders why an all important bill such as this still remains unattended to even when assurances have been extracted from the Senate Committee on this bill, our regulatory agencies and ministry of education.

Passing this bill will go a long way to resolving majority of the contending issues in the sector, reduce conflicts, improve on the efficiency levels of the administrative organs and ultimately bring the sector in tune with global best practices. Same bill died with the 6th and 7th assemblies and the current effort is now being threatened to go same way as it is stuck in the Senate since the public hearing in December, 2016.

“Shortfalls in Personnel Releases and Withdrawal of Allowances and emoluments due to cuts in personnel releases. This phenomenon has persisted till date. As if this was not enough, government added salt to injury by withdrawing allowances which hitherto were part of salaries.

Nigerian Polytechnic lecturers begin nationwide strike November 13

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has threatened to commence nationwide indefinite strike from November 13.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja Monday, after the union’s emergency National Executive Council Meeting, ASUP President, Usman Dutse regretted the nonchalant manner successive administrations had treated polytechnic education in the country.

“This action shall be sustained until our demands are met or an implementable memorandum of action is agreed upon by our union and relevant agencies of government,” he stated.
ASUP had in October asked the Nigerian government to implement outstanding demands.
Issues ASUP want resolved include NEEDS Assessment for federal and state polytechnics at N652, 591, 478, 614 billion, Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Scale (CONTISS 15) N20billion and short fall in salaries as at December 2016 N2, 637, 161,000billion and earned academic allowance N3, 221,487,017billion;
Poor funding of public polytechnics as reflected in the unimplemented capital grants, withdrawals of allowances since 2016, shortfalls in personnel allocations as well as non funding of promotion exercises;

Dichotomy against HND holders, victimization of union officials, non release of check off dues, interference in union activities, non release of CONTISS 15 migration arrears, non release of visitation panel reports, delay in review of the Federal Polytechnics Act, non commencement of renegotiation of ASUP/FG agreement of 2010 and tardiness in appointment of rectors of federal polytechnics.

ASUP to commence nationwide strike on Monday unless

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, says it will embark on an indefinite strike with effect from Monday, November 13, unless the federal government pays its 2016 shortfalls and all outstanding arrears.
The National President of the Union, Usman Dutse, gave the strike notice while briefing journalists on the outcome of ASUP National Executive Council Emergency meeting in Abuja on Monday.
He said the union would sustain the strike until the demands of the union are met or an implementable memorandum of action was agreed on.
“Our union is constrained to lament that our sector is on the verge of collapse and needs all the emergency attention it urgently deserves.”
He said the union had engaged government on the poor state of the polytechnics, adding that government had set up a committee that produced a report but nothing was done about it.
He said that in 2014, N6.5 billion was earmarked to resuscitate the poor state of polytechnics but it was reviewed to N8 billion because of the prevailing economic realities.
According to him, no step had been taken to release a dime to enhance the quality of the polytechnics system.
Mr. Dutse noted that the delay and indifference to the passage of the bill was viewed as a ploy to fester chaos and continued crises in the sector.
According to him, the bill passed public hearing in December 2016 but the bill died with the 6th and the 7th assemblies and current effort was threatened as it was stagnated in the Senate since the public hearing in December 2016.
“Passage of the bill will solve majority of the contending issues in the sector, reduce conflicts by improving on the efficiency and ultimately bring the sector in tune with global best practices.”
He said that in December 2015, members of the union experienced shortfall due to cuts in personnel allowances released, saying that government also withdrew allowances which were part of its salaries.
He noted that only five institutions out of 25 had received repayment of its 2016 shortfalls, saying that governing councils compounded the situation by siphoning resources of institutions for their luxury.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved N290 billion for the payment of shortfalls but our members are seriously suffering because the fund was not released.
“We are calling on government to fast track the process so that our members can get their salaries.
“We wish to remind government at all levels and Nigerians that we cannot be complacent in strategic annihilation of the sector that feeds and caters for millions of youths and families.” he said.
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to prevail on the government to do the needful and avoid the imminent shutdown of the sector indefinitely.

Fedpoffa Connect

Tuesday, 7 November 2017