Polytechnic lecturers shift planned strike to December 2

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has postponed its planned nationwide strike to December 2, 2024, to allow the Federal Government to meet its demands.

The National President of ASUP, Kpanja Shammah, made this known in a statement issued at the end of the union’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Saturday, October 26.

The union had on October 7 issued a 15-day ultimatum to the federal government to meet its demands.

The demands included the alleged interference of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in the statutory duties of Academic Boards regarding the admission of HND students.

Others were the need for infrastructure revitalisation through the NEEDS Assessment intervention, the implementation of promotions in state institutions, and the payment of all outstanding promotion arrears.

There was also the settlement of pending arrears from 25 per cent and 35 per cent salary review for the period of January 2023 to December 2023 in Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology.

Poly lecturers set for strike as ultimatum expires

According to Shammah, following the ultimatum, a resolution meeting of all stakeholders in the sector was convened by the Federal Ministry of Education.

He said the meeting was convened with a view to resolving the contentious issues on October 23.

The ASUP President stated: “Resolutions and an action plan were developed during the meeting to resolve the issues.

“The union’s NEC, therefore, met again on an emergency note on October 24 to review the action plan as proposed in the meeting with the stakeholders.

“After exhaustive deliberations, the union resolved to defer its proposed industrial action to December 2.

“The decision was taken to gauge the government’s commitment to implementing the action plan as agreed at the meeting of October 23.”

Shammah said it was the expectation of ASUP that the government would take advantage of the period to show commitment by diligently executing the action plan on each of the eleven items in dispute.

The Star