THE Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) may extend its ongoing two-week warning strike by two weeks if the government fails to meet its demands.
ASUP President, Anderson Ezeibe, disclosed this to The ICIR on Monday in a telephone interview.
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Ezeibe said the government had met only two of the five key demands of the union.
Demands met by the government are the payment of minimum wage arrears for the polytechnic lecturers and the release of a normative instrument for institutional accreditation, a policy document for international standards.
Key demands not met, according to him, are the release of the N15 billion revitalization fund, which he said President Muhammadu Buhari approved last year, and the release of a scheme of service.
He also said the government was yet to respond to the group’s outcry against the victimization of ASUP members in the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.
Ezeibe noted that the government could meet all the demands.
But he stressed that if it failed to do so within the two weeks, ASUP would extend its strike by another two weeks.
“If the government doesn’t meet all the demands within these weeks, we’ll declare a two-week indefinite action. Our next NEC meeting is in June. When we meet in June, we’ll take the next line of action.”
ASUP’s warning strike has coincided with a similar action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has been on strike since February 14 after the Federal Government failed to meet its demands.
Industrial actions by both unions have paralyzed academic activities as students in public tertiary institutions were forced to return home.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NAN) has vowed to disrupt the planned presidential primaries scheduled for Abuja this week over the strikes.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]