Academic activities have, for some time, stopped at most polytechnics and colleges of education due to strike by lecturers, but nobody seems to pay attention to them.
Disappointment is simply the lot of the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Mr. Chibuzor Asomugha, as he discusses the fate of the nation’s polytechnic education.
Sounding dejected, the ASUP President notes that the Federal Government is not enthusiastic about developing the polytechnic sector. According to him, the government has failed to show reasonable good faith and commitment toward uplifting the polytechnic sector in general and particularly in resolving the ongoing strike by polytechnic lecturers.
He says, “It will not be wrong to say that government has been irresponsible and insensitive to the challenges in the polytechnic sector. Government has not been sincere in the scant attention it has paid ASUP in the course of this engagement.”
The despondence is not limited to Asomugha. A Higher National Diploma undergraduate of the Offa Polytechnic in Kwara State, Emma Idu, also sounded dejected on Monday as he appraised the nation’s tertiary education, especially the ongoing strike by polytechnic teachers. He is not happy that after over 100 days the industrial action commenced, it has yet to get what he describes as “the needed attention.”
He says, “I wonder how the authorities look at the polytechnic sector. Even as students, we are not getting the deserved recognition. Many people see us as inferior to our university counterparts. In fact, they see polytechnics as a preparatory ground for university education. Do you know that this alone gives some of us psychological trauma?
“Again, look at the ongoing strike by the academic staff of polytechnic. Are their issues getting the needed attention? The answer indeed is not in the affirmative. Truly, if the country continues this way, I wonder how it will get its technical manpower and achieve its quest for technological growth.”
He notes that when ASUP’s sister group, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, went on strike last year, the action received regular attention until its suspension last December 17. Lecturers in the nation’s public universities commenced the strike on July 1, 2013 to compel the Federal Government to honour an agreement it signed with their union in 2009.
But 102 days after ASUP started its strike, many stakeholders say the Federal Government has not done enough to address the problems that prompted the action in the first place.
Polytechnic lecturers, who have been on strike since October 4, 2013, are demanding, among other things, the constitution of the Governing Councils of the polytechnics, release of the White Paper on the visitation panels, as well as the commencement of NEEDS assessment of the polytechnics.
They are also seeking an end to the appointment of “unqualified” persons as rectors and provosts; establishment of the National Polytechnic Commission as against the existing National Board of Technical Education; implementation of the CONPCASS-approved salary package, and the re-negotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUP agreement.
Before the October strike, they had embarked on an industrial action that lasted for 81 days over the same issues. The action commenced on April 29, 2013.
However, vowing that the strike will continue, Asomugha says the government has not met the demands of the union.
As the ASUP president insists on the action, observers note that the internal wrangling in the union is perhaps contributing to why the government is not taking the group seriously. They note that following the election that brought the present ASUP leadership to power, some chapters of the union withdrew from the ongoing action.
Indeed, while the strike is on in many polytechnics, normal lectures are on in schools such as the Yaba College of Technology and the Ibadan Polytechnic. Lecturers at the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu are also reportedly not part of the strike because their rector allegedly dragged the chapter of the union to court.
Asomugha, who argues that ASUP is not distracted by this, says he has one consolation: the larger members of the union are not ready to jettison their commitment to the ongoing industrial action.
He adds, “The union has since come to terms with the reality that owing to peculiar localised circumstances some polytechnics have not been able to join the strike fully.
These chapters have been constrained by subsisting court cases or enduring intra union challenges. However, the circumstances of these few chapters have in no way mitigated the character of the strike or extenuated the resolve of our members nationwide to push through this agitation.”
In fact, confirming Asomugha’s position, the ASUP-YABATECH Chairman, Adeyemi Aromolaran, says the chapter is committed to the struggle. He adds, “We believe in the ongoing struggle. In spirit, we are committed to it. But unfortunately, at the physical level, we are constrained.
“The chapter is just emerging from a crisis that lasted for about five years and there are constitutional requirements that we need to fulfil to return fully to the national body.
“For those alleging an internal crisis in the larger ASUP, that is far from the truth. We are one and there is no factionalization in the union.”
Instead, he frowns at the government and public’s perception of the polytechnic sector, saying their bias against it is legendary. According to him, the minister of education, who is the visitor to polytechnics, pays more attention to the universities, neglecting the former.
Apart from the polytechnics, the nation’s colleges of education are also currently on strike. Lecturers under the auspices of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union resumed their action on December 18, 2013.
They are seeking an end to the imposition of the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System on CoEs, autonomous degree awarding-status for CoEs and the release of the 2012 Visitation White Paper to address a number of lingering issues affecting members of the union.
The COEASU President, Asagha Nkoro, who in a letter dated December 18, acknowledged that the union had met six times with the Federal Government, says the latter is not committed to an early resolution of the dispute.
He adds, “While the government held a series of talks with the union leadership between September and December 2013 (specifically six times; four of which were attended by the appropriate ministers of education and labour and productivity), evidence abound that the government does not wish to keep her side of the bargain in meeting the understanding reached at such meetings. This, without equivocation, is unacceptable to our union.”
Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education has promised to end its seven-day warning strike on Tuesday (today). The union embarked on the action to press on the government to improve on its members’ working condition.
The union began the ‘warning strike’ last week Monday to press home their demands, one of which is the call on the Federal Government to address the gap in salary structure between SSUCOEN and their counterpart in the universities.
According to the South-West Chairman of the union, Lere Oladipo, there is hope that the FG will accede to their demands following a meeting between representatives of the union and the government.
He states, “The representatives of the department of tertiary education in the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education held a meeting with SSUCOEN National President, Mohammed Uwaisu, on Friday to address the issues raised by the union. The FG expressed the readiness to listen to the workers at the meeting and directed the Executive Secretary of the NCCE, Prof. Mohamed Ibn-Junaid, to prepare a comprehensive document detailing our requests. On the same day, a message was sent to bursars in all the federal colleges of education to prepare the financial implication of the payment of arrears of migration of all officers who have not migrated to the new payment structure. They were directed to bring the report to Abuja on Monday (yesterday).
“The current move gladdens our heart. We hope the issues will be resolved before the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum, which starts after the suspension of the strike.
“If not, we will embark on an indefinite strike after 21 days if our demands are not fully met.”
