ASUP gives FG three-week ultimatum to settle salary arrears

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has given the federal government a 21-day ultimatum to resolve issues negatively affecting polytechnic education in Nigeria.

Monday Ojo, chairman of ASUP at the Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech), spoke at a news conference in Lagos on Thursday.

The chairman was addressing the press on behalf of Shammah Kpanja, the president of ASUP.

Ojo said ASUP’s emergency national executive council meeting in Abuja expressed concern over “disturbing developments” threatening the stability of the polytechnic education sector.

He said the federal government has not been able to make commitments to resolving the issues.

“This has left us with no choice but to issue this ultimatum. Our stand is for the federal government to address the issues satisfactorily,” Ojo said.

“Key issues raised include non-release of the circular for Peculiar Academic Allowance, unpaid arrears of the 25/35 per cent salary review, and continued discrimination against HND holders.

“ASUP also faulted the delay in the release of the second round of NEEDS assessment intervention and criticised the federal ministry of education for outsourcing quality assurance activities in polytechnics.”

The official also decried the failure of some state governments to implement Nigeria’s new minimum wage and accused the federal government of stalling the renegotiation of the ASUP-FGN 2010 agreement.

“Our members are demotivated by unpaid promotion arrears, with some dating back to 2019. This situation is unacceptable and worsening morale in institutions,” the union leader.

Ojo condemned what he described as the unlawful disruption of union activities by security agents.

He said ASUP was also dissatisfied with the inability of the federal government to establish a dedicated polytechnic commission.

“If these issues remain unresolved after 21 days, we may have no option but to declare a trade dispute and withdraw our services nationwide,” he warned.

At a congress of ASUP’s YabaTech chapter, Masopa Nurudeen, the union’s Zone C coordinator, spoke of the plight of polytechnic lecturers.

“Salaries are inadequate, our members are undergoing financial difficulties and many individuals are struggling and performing additional tasks to cope with the economic situation,” he said.

ASUP’s threatened strike is coming just as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are similarly meeting to decide on what it warns would be an indefinite nationwide strike over unmet demands.