ASUP calls for a strike as the deadline expires.
On October 23, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) would have given the Federal Government a 15-day ultimatum to comply with its requests.
In the event that the government does not address the controversial new plan of service for polytechnic lecturers nationwide, the group had threatened to go on strike.
As the deadline draws near, more instructors are supporting the ASUP National Executive Council's (NEC) plan to encourage members to leave their positions as soon as the deadline passes.
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, ASUP halted its planned July 22 industrial action, following the Federal Government’s intervention, which mandated the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to review the disputed guidelines.
"The strike was put on hold in order to establish the conditions required for the stakeholder engagement process to quickly resolve all controversial issues.
Unfortunately, as I write this, NBTE's blatant resistance has prevented any progress in this area.
"The government's similar attitude towards other welfare needs of the union's members has also been noted by the union, with regret," 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 role 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.
NAN reports that the contentious issues in the new scheme include the delayed stakeholders’ engagement on the scheme of service and the non-release of the stakeholders-validated Condition of Service for polytechnics.
Other issues include the inconsistent provisions of the Federal Polytechnic Act and the laws establishing state-owned institutions, particularly concerning the appointment of principal officers.
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.
