The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has threatened to embark on strike action if the government fails to respond to their demands within 21 days.
The union is asking the government to pay its members their 12 months arrears and also implement some of the resolution reached with the government previously.
Addressing a press conference in Bauchi on Friday, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUP, Zone B, Lumpye Innocent Simji disclosed that the union at her last emergency National Executive Council meeting on 14th August at Abuja, resolved to issue a 21-day notice to address some lingering issues or face industrial action.
“The NEC during the meeting gave 21-day ultimatum to the government to address some Germane issues that is threatening the survival of the Polytechnics sector”, he said .
According to the Zonal Coordinator, Chapters of the union were also directed to organize press conferences in their localities to draw the attention of all and sundry to the plight of the tertiary education in Nigeria.
He stressed that the issues demanding solution, include non-release of circular by the national salaries incomes and wages commission (NSIWC) to cover the peculiar academic allowance.
Simji explained that the peculiar academic allowance paid to academic staff across Polytechnics is a component of the ASUP/FGN 2010 agreement.
He however, decried that the sustenance of the peculiar academic allowance is being threatened by the non-release of the requisite circular by the NSIWC to enable budgetary provisions in that regard.
“Currently, the allowance has been removed from the budgeting template and the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) has failed to intervene in definite terms on this subject”, the ASUP decried.
The zonal coordinator mentioned other issue requiring solution as non-release of arrears of the 25/35% salary review/non-Implementation of Same in State Owned Polytechnics.
He further disclosed that the government is yet to release the funds required for the payment of the arrears of the 25/35% salary review.
Simji regretted that the arrears covering a 12 – month period which has been captured in the budget is yet to be released for reasons beyond the comprehension of ASUP and its members.
He said, the ASUP would be forced to go on strike due to non-committal disposition of the federal ministry of education to genuine dialogue and lack of will to execute previous resolutions on some of the items.
“Our Union’s National Executive Council (NEC) has resolved to issue a 21-day ultimatum and if nothing is done to this plethora of issues, we will be forced to take this painful but necessary action by declaration of a trade dispute and withdrawal of services of our members across public polytechnics and monotechnics nationwide”, he noted.
The Zonal coordinator who pointed out that the situation is worse in State Owned Polytechnics where some states have not implemented the salary review, added that most state governments have failed to implement the New National Minimum Wage.
