From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Academic Staff Union at the Federal College of Education, Bichi, has embarked on a one-week strike to press the management of college to improve the learning environment and security arrangement of the college in the light of the current security challenges in the North.
The Chairman, College of Education, Academic Staf Union, Bichi branch, Mohammed Salisu Inusa, confirmed the development to the media at the press centre of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kano.on Tuesday.
He disclosed that the industrial action was aimed at calling the attention of the federal government to the dilapidation of key teaching and learning facilities in the college such as the dysfunctional laboratories, halls and students’ hostels, among other amenities.
According to Inusa, the security outfit contracted by the college’s management to provide security services in the college have not been paid over the past six months, leading to the current poor state of security on campus.
He alleged that offices were being burgled by unidentified criminals, adding that official office equipment and personal belongings such as laptops were been stolen from offices by the same gang of criminals, even as he added that student hostels were not left from the rsmpant activities of these criminals.
Mohammed lamented that staff of thr college were also been owed huge back log of unpaid allowances just he added that cleaners were being own their wages,a situated which has led to a very dirty environment which might lead to fisease outbreak on on campus
He alleged that in the past 10 years, their graduates had not been issued with the mandatory teachers certificates by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).
He further disclosed sthat the management of the college have failed to yield to negotiations and dialogues held in the past, warning that at the end of the one week strike, if their demands were not met, the union would order its members to proceed on an indefinite strike.