The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has vowed to resume a strike that has been on hold since the Federal Government allegedly failed to follow through on a Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed in April 2021 to halt the strike.
The academics have also demanded that the N15 billion revitalization fund, which has been authorized, be released immediately.
10 months of minimum wage arrears owed to Federal Polytechnic members, as well as the start and completion of the renegotiation of the Union’s 2010 agreement.
The demands were stated in a statement released at the conclusion of ASUP’s 16th National Delegates Conference, which took place in Asaba, Delta State, from December 6 to 10, 2021 and was made accessible to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.
The delegates conference was chaired by ASUP President, Comrade Anderson Ezeibe, and was convened to assess the Union’s success in her contacts with owners of public polytechnics and monotechnics throughout the country, as well as the state of the nation, with a focus on the national economy and security.
The Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUP) also urged Nigerians to hold the Federal Government accountable if the lecturers’ strike was to be resumed.
Some of the resolutions reached at the conference as contained in the communique are: “The delegates frowned at government’s failure to fulfil its own end of the bargain resulting from the April 2021 Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed to end the ASUP strike action.
“The NDC renewed the demands for the immediate release of the approved N15 billion revitalization fund and the
10 months arrears of the minimum wage owed members in Federal Polytechnics.
“The NDC further resolved that, should the Union resume its suspended strike action, the government should be held responsible.
“The NDC condemned the reckless breach of the 2019 Polytechnic Act (as amended) in any Federal Polytechnics from across the country and the failure of state governments to domesticate the Act.
“For this reason, the Conference called on the Institutions to abide by the provisions of the Act and also appealed to State Governments to fast track the domestication of the Act to align the governance of their institutions with acceptable standards,” it said.
ASUP, on the other hand, praised the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for establishing six new Centers of Excellence in six polytechnics, and challenged the agency with ensuring that the Centers of Excellence are carefully monitored to ensure that the desired impact is realized in the sector.
Regarding attacks on educational institutions and the kidnapping of students and teachers for ransom, academics voiced concern about the nation’s growing security difficulties, which have a direct impact on Nigerians’ peace, order, stability, welfare, and well-being.
As a result, the ASUP delegates conference asked the government at all levels to find long-term solutions to the country’s long-standing security concerns.
The NDC also slammed the government’s plans to raise the costs of petroleum goods and energy tariffs in the country, citing the country’s terrible economic circumstances as a result of similar measures in the past, such as the price hike of cooking gas.
While emphasizing that such policies are anti-people and will further impoverish residents, ASUP urged the government to cut down on political office holders’ frivolities and showy lifestyles, and to prioritize sectors that have a direct impact on human development indices in their spending.
The Union applauded the National Assembly for passing a bill that seeks to overcome the infamous Degree/HND divide, and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the bill because it will help the technical and vocational educational sub-sector fulfill its responsibility to the nation.
“The NDC condemned the non-payment of salaries in some states like Abia, Ogun, Osun among others by the respective state governments noting that this amounts to a breach of contractual agreements between the workers and the government.
“The NDC thereby tasked the affected state governments to pay up the arrears of salaries owed staff of the affected institutions in the interest of industrial harmony.
“The NDC equally frowned at the non-payment of salaries for the month of November in some Federal Polytechnics as this display of lack of professionalism in budgetary,” the communique said.
