Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP
The striking Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), an umbrella body of lecturers of polytechnics in Nigeria, has announced the suspension of its “two-week definite warning strike,” which began on May 16.
The union said its decision was because of progress made so far in the engagement with the country’s government towards agreeing to its requests.
It said the government has met some demands, and the process is on to ensure that they meet other demands.
ASUP said it declared the strike following the government’s failure to implement the agreements in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed with the union in April 2021.
A statement by Shamma Kpanja, the secretary-general of the union, said they took the decision to suspend the strike at an emergency national executive council meeting of the union.
The statement said the two-week warning strike has ushered ‘significant progress’ in four of the union’s demands from the government.
Parts of the progress recorded, according to the statement, is the commencement of payment of arrears of the new minimum wage in all affected federal polytechnics and the approval and release of regulatory instruments for accreditation of institutions, management, and programmes.
It added that continued infractions in the Federal Polytechnics Act were also being handled as the document is due to be withdrawn, as agreed.
The statement listed other issues to include the “regulatory instruments that address issues around accreditation activities,” which he noted were reviewed in 2021 and approved. It said it was released to the public through the NBTE website.
The statement reads in part; “This issue shall provide a policy framework to address the challenges in state-owned institutions. Already, implementation is on as a decision has been taken on the situation in Abia State Polytechnic where salaries are owed for 34 months. The proprietor (Abia State Government) has been duly communicated.
“A decision has also been taken on the vexed issue of victimisation of union officials in the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu where 5 of our officers were dismissed due to their participation in the 2017 strike of the union. The situation in Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo (where we still have 1 victimised officer) which has a different background is yet to be handled.
“The issue of continued infractions in the Federal Polytechnics Act as typified by the release of a contentious template for appointment of principal officers by the Federal Ministry of Education was also handled as the document is due to be withdrawn as agreed.”
The union had embarked on the warning strike to demand the complete implementation of the 2021 MOA it signed with the government.
ASUP listed items in the MoA to include the release of the approved revitalisation fund of N15 billion approved for the sector; the release of the arrears of the new minimum wage; approval and release of the reviewed normative instruments for institutions, management, and programmes accreditation; release of the scheme of service and conditions of service undergoing review since 2017.
Others are the “non-release of the arrears of CONTISS 15 migration for the lower cadre; sustained infractions on the Federal Polytechnics Act (2019); continued victimisation of some union officers in IMT Enugu and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo; as well as the poor treatment of members in some Colleges of Agriculture.”
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