The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the federal government to address the issues raised by the union, including the continued delay in the re-negotiation of federal government/ASUP agreement, or have all the polytechnics in the country shut down indefinitely.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the 73rd ASUP National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which was signed by the union's National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Clement Chirman, the union decried the delay in the review of the Polytechnic Act and the non-release of federal government's White Paper on the visitation panel to the polytechnics.
ASUP also faulted the non-implementation of the 65years retirement age in some polytechnics and monotechnics, adding that the implementation of the reviewed Scheme of Service and CONTISS 15 as they affects the lower cadre were among the demands of the union.
The union also decried the rising state of insecurity in the nation, the presidential pardon for ex-convicts, the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government and the appointment of unqualified Rectors in some state-owned institutions.
ASUP also called on government to direct the management of various institutions to immediately reinstate the disengaged academic staff, and henceforth, desist from such acts, demanding that bureaucratic bottlenecks and discrimination associated with accessing TEFfund's sponsorships and grants be removed.
The union, therefore, warned that failure to address the issues by the federal government would result in serious industrial disharmony with grave disadvantages to the nation's polytechnics.
