Poly lecturers give FG 21-day strike notice

By Moses John

Abuja

Polytechnic Lecturers under the auspices of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the federal government to address pending issues with the union, or else they would withdraw their services.
The union, after its 89th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Aba, Abia state recently, also said they were reconsidering their participation in the renegotiation of the 2010 agreement.
In a letter to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, and his Education counterpart, Malam Adamu Adamu, which was signed by the union’s National President, Comrade Usman Dutse, it noted that the issues listed above constituted violations of the subsisting agreement.
Dutse said the union would be left with no other option than to withdraw their services at the expiration of the notice issued.
He said: “Our union therefore resolved to issue a 21 day ultimatum to the government effective 9th October, 2017 to comprehensively address the issues raised. The union will be left with no choice than to withdraw the services of its members in a total and comprehensive national industrial action in defense of the sector if the government fails to do the needful.
“The union may also reconsider its continued participation in the renegotiation of its 2010 agreement with the government as the issues listed above constitute violations of the subsisting agreement.
“It is the hope of our union that government should seize the opportunity provided by the 21 days window to resolve the issues and avert the ugly consequence of avoidable disruption in academic calendar across Nigerian polytechnics and monotechnics.”
On the Non Implementation of the report of the NEEDS ASSESSMENT survey of Polytechnics, ASUP said despite directive by the Minister of Education on the matter, there is no indication towards the movement of the document to the Federal Executive Council for necessary action.
Rainstorm destroys 30 buildings at Ogun COE
Rainstorms have damaged about 30 buildings at the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun state, and also wreaked havoc on other structures at the school.
The havoc happened as a result of a heavy downpour, Tuesday afternoon when the students of the institution were writing the second-semester examinations for 2016/2017 academic session.
Premium Times noticed the extent of the damage when it visited the school on Wednesday.
Some of the structures affected included the office of the provost, the senior staff establishment office, the dean’s office at the school of vocational education department, the micro-teaching Laboratory, students union building, hostels, the 1,500-seater hall of the institution among others.
Deputy Provost of the institution, Rafiu Soyele, expressed sadness over the incident, saying the incident occurred when the institution was suffering from a paucity of funds.
“We were in the office when the thunderstorms started, but thought it was a small thing. Surprisingly, it is not. We started moving around to see what has really happened. We are not happy about the effect the thunderstorm has had on the campus,” he said.
He appealed to the relevant authorities to come to the aid of the school.

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