Gyang Bere, Jos

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) Zone B, consisting of 11 states in the North has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to approve the implementation of the 2013/2014 agreement between the Federal government and the union to enable it call off the ongoing strike before the February 16 presidential election.

The ASUP) Coordinator, Zone B, Comrade Abdullahi Yalwa, disclosed this on Friday while briefing journalists in Jos. He said the union could call off the strike before the February 16 presidential election.

He said the Federal and state governments should come to the aid of polytechnics nationwide by repositioning the sector for job creation and maximum productivity.

“The non-implementation of NEED assessment report has been a major item in the progression of our engagement as it is one of the gains of the prolonged 2013/2014 engagement with the Federal government.

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“Despite the fact that the report has been reviewed from the N652,591,478,614 to over N800, 000, 000, 000 as a result of inflation and inclusion of new polytechnics, it is yet to be approved for implementation by the Presidency. If this is done, we can call off the strike before the February 16 presidential election.

He said the union would continue to review these demands upward due to inflation if government refused to implement the report in a considerable time.

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Yelwa lamented that since 2015, staff had being experiencing irregular cuts in their salaries due to shortfalls in personnel cost released by the Federal government.

He noted that allowances were withdrawn, leaving the institutions struggling for survival without success.

“Incidences of unpaid salaries still prevail in Benue, Kogi, Abia, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Ondo and Osun states. They (salary arrears) range between 4 to 14 months. In Ogun, our members in Moshood Abiola Polytechnic are threatened with mass sack as the governor of the state sustains his drive to establish a new polytechnic in a farmland in Ikpkia.

“In Kogi, our union is threatened with proscription by the despot of the state. Management and governing councils of our institutions have persistently trampled on our officials through arbitrary suspension, blackmail, intimidation and sacking of the union officials.”

He decried the non-release of CONTISS 15 migration arrears as the issue had continued to linger for the lower cadre while the arrears continue to increase across Federal and state-own Institutions.

Yelwa kicked against appointment of university professors and politicians as rectors in the polytechnics without knowing the pains and agony of the Institutions and advocated for appointment of polytechnics lecturers to head the Institutions.

He said the National Executive Council of ASUP was compelled to declare an indefinite nationwide strike on the December 12, 2018, due to the insensitive attitude of the Federal government to their demands.