Season of Strikes: polytechnics lecturers go on strike!!

The National President, Academic Staff Union of
Polytechnics (ASUP), Chibuzor Asomugha, on Thursday
directed the union members nationwide to commence an
indefinite strike on Friday, October 4.
Mr Asomugha said that the directive became imperative
following the federal government’s failure to meet the union’s
demands.
He explained that two months after the union had suspended
its previous strike, nothing had been done by the government
to address the union’s demands.
The decision to embark on the strike on October 4 was
reached at the 75th National Executive Council (NEC)
meeting of the union in Bida, Niger State on September 28.
The union embarked on a nationwide indefinite strike on April
29, over the federal government’s failure to address its
grievances; and suspended it on July 17 as a result of the
intervention of the Joint Committees on Education of the
Senate and the House of Representatives.
Mr Asomugha said that it was over two months that the union
suspended its strike, but “nothing has been done since we
suspended our strike in July”.
He said that the federal government had not fulfilled its
bargain in the 2009 agreement with the union.
The union’s demands include the possibility of lower cadres
rising to CONTISS 15, and the release of a White Paper on
the Visitation Panel to the Federal Polytechnics.
Others are the discrimination between polytechnics and
university graduates in job placements and career progression,
and the constitution of the Governing Councils of Federal
Polytechnics.