STRIKE: ASUP to commence strike from December 2nd
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) announced that it would begin a two-week warning strike over the government’s inability to fulfil its eleven-item demand. They stated that the strike would begin on 2nd December of 2024. Pertinent among those demands is the appointment of a rector at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, in Imo State without adhering to the Federal Polytechnics Act and without completing the due process.
Kpanja Shamah, President of the ASUP, revealed this while briefing the press at the end of its 112 National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja. Remember that ASUP had given the Federal Government and other pertinent authorities a 15-day ultimatum to promptly examine and revoke any judgements that were in conflict with the Polytechnics Act’s provisions and other sub-sector governance tools.
Furthermore, Shamah stated: “Our union’s National Executive Council, NEC, held its 112th session to review the current status of our engagements with proprietors of public polytechnics, colleges of technology, and monotechnics in the country.
“The defining resolution of our Union’s 111th NEC was the issuance of a 15-day ultimatum to the government to address issues threatening the progress of the sector or face a withdrawal of services by our members nationwide.
“The issues listed by our union include sustained reports of impunity and disrespect of clear provisions of the Federal Polytechnics Act, different edicts establishing state-owned institutions, and other instruments of governance in the sector, particularly as it affects the appointment of principal officers in federal and state-owned polytechnics as well as other items of governance in polytechnics.
“The sordid display of the Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, in the appointment process of a new rector, and the appointment of a rector in the Federal Polytechnic, Wannune, without following due process were cited as recent examples of these breaches. Non-review of the contentious and suspended document entitled Schemes of Service for Polytechnics, non-release of the NEEDS Assessment intervention funds for 2023.”
“Non-capturing of the peculiar academic allowance of members for sustained payment in the planned post-IPPIS era; refusal of most state-owned polytechnics to implement the 35/25 percent salary review for members; and non-release of the arrears of the same in federal polytechnics, among others.”
It is because of these developments and judicious review at the 112 NEC meeting that the union resolved to embark on the two-week warning strike from December 2nd, 2024. This strike is nationwide for all its members. This will operate as a warning to the government to address the issues mentioned or face indeterminate consequences moving forward.
