Suspension of ASUP strike – The Sun

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) sus­pended its protracted strike last week. The industrial ac­tion, which began on October 4, 2013, lasted nine months and eleven days, making it one of the longest strikes in Nigerian history.

The suspension of the strike, which is for three months, followed the re­quest of the new Minister of Educa­tion, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, for time to look into the contentious is­sues that had stalled all efforts to bring the action to an end.

We welcome the suspension of this strike that had kept polytechnic students away from their studies for virtually a whole session. The losses from the strike are, indeed, unquanti­fiable. We laud the new minister for promptly moving to break the im­passe and advise that all the issues that had made it impossible to end the strike earlier should be addressed promptly, and with all sincerity, to en­sure a permanent end to the strike af­ter the three months suspension.

It is saddening that strikes have be­come a permanent feature of the Ni­gerian education sector. A similarly protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was called off only in December last year after university students had been sent home for about six months.

Teachers in the nation’s colleges of education, under the aegis of the Col­leges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) also began a strike on December 31, last year, following a 60-day ultimatum issued to the Fed­eral Government on September 16, 2013.

These frequent disruptions of the academic calendars of tertiary insti­tutions in the country are inimical to delivery of quality education in the country. It is necessary that all the is­sues that informed the strikes in poly­technics and colleges of education should be tackled and rested at the same time, because they are similar and common in our education sector.

Even the most casual observer will agree that these strikes are a symp­tom of organisational disarray in the nation’s education sector. They indi­cate an absence of a coherent policy on tertiary education.

They also project a failure of admin­istration at the higher education level, which has been forcing thousands of Nigerians to seek education outside the country. Nigerians, in large num­bers, throng Ghanaian institutions. Thousands go to Turkey, India, the United Kingdom, America and even Cameroun, just to escape the night­mare that Nigeria’s tertiary education has become.

It is often forgotten by the authori­ties that the universities, polytech­nics, technical colleges and colleges of education are parts of the whole system. None can truly replace the other. None is less important. Each has its unique contribution to national development.

The cases of the academic unions are not trivial. Each has a catalogue of grievances. ASUP, for instance, wants amongst others the establish­ment of a National Polytechnics Com­mission; the Constitution of Govern­ing Councils for Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education; the re­lease of White Paper on the Visita­tions to Federal Polytechnics, and the commencement of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUP Agreement. The union also wants the payment of the workers’ salary arrears on the Con­solidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS 15), to the tune of N40 billion.

We wonder why it is difficult for the government to address these issues. If governing councils have been use­ful in universities, why do we need a strike to get the minister to set them up in polytechnics?

Why on earth does a government sponsor a visitation panel and fail to take decisions on its findings? If the polytechnics and colleges of ed­ucation look decrepit, why delay the NEEDS Assessment Exercise?

There is already an agreement on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS). The unions are merely aggrieved over the modalities and arrears of payment. Why can’t such details be settled?

What is so difficult about setting up a national polytechnic commission? Issues like the tenure of rectors, pe­culiar and responsibility allowance, CONTISS migration and non-accredi­tation of programmes are issues se­nior officials should be able to thrash out.

We urge all the parties to be con­siderate knowing what students and parents have gone through in the last nine months. We hope the new min­ister will use his current good rela­tions with the lecturers to see that the strikes are not just suspended, but called off.