Colleges of Education lecturers extend strike by 3 weeks

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has extended its ongoing strike by three weeks.

The COEASU President, Dr. Smart Olugbeko, made this known via a communique jointly signed by the General Secretary of the union, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, on Wednesday.

Olugbeko said the resolution was taken at the end of the union’s NEC meeting.

The colleges of education lecturers had embarked on industrial action in June over the non-implementation of the agreement entered with the Federal Government.

The union demands include non-commencement of renegotiation of FGN-COEASU 2010 Agreement, non-release of N15billion and B18billion revitalisation fund.

Others are non–implementation of 2014 Needs Assessment Report, payment of promotion arrears, payment of allowance to librarians, implementation of the consequential effect of the implementation of CONTISS15 on lower cadres.

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Others include poor funding and poor conditions across state-owned Colleges of Education, University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), and refusal to mainstream demonstration school staff in the payroll of the colleges.

“Most state governments are yet to address issues locally peculiar to state-owned colleges of education, especially in Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Abia, Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Edo, and Ebonyi states. In fact, the situation has further deteriorated in some of these states with the enforcement of the draconian rule of “no work, no pay” and victimisation of Union leaders.

“The FG is yet to come out clear on the Union’s preference for UTAS against the troublesome Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

“Having submitted the Union’s charter of demands to the FG team for the renegotiation, the posture and sincerity of government towards meaningful collective bargaining cannot be ascertained until August 2, 2022, when the renegotiation proper begins,” the union stated.

The Star