Nasarawa Polytechnic ASUP Threatens Indefinite Strike
By Amina Mohammed, Lafia
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), in Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic Lafia, Nasarawa State, has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if the state government fails to take urgent steps toward addressing their welfare needs and infrastructural challenges facing the institution.
Chairman of ASUP of the Polytechnic, Dr. Obadiah Ilah made the call while briefing newsmen at the end of an emergency congress on the recently released new Scheme of Service for Polytechnics by NBTE in Lafia.
Lecturers of the Polytechnic defied the early morning heavy downpour and trooped out to the school premises for an emergency congress chanting solidarity songs.
Dr Ilah explained that the new Scheme of Service if allowed to be implemented will not only be counterproductive but tantamount to plunging the Polytechnic education into jeopardy.
“The outright denigration of HND holders against degree holders at entry points into lecturing cadre in the sector is quite surprising. A company that discriminates against her products in the manner NBTE has done is a company yet to be known anywhere in the world.”
“Much more, the requirements for the appointment of Registrars and Bursars, Chief Librarians, and the underrepresentation of technologists as non-teaching staff contained in the document are gravely contentious. We as a union will not accept this,” he said.
The ASUP Chairman called on the federal and State Governments to focus more attention on exploring new ways of raising the standard of technology-driven institutions across the country including funding, staff welfare, and infrastructural development.
Speaking on the state of the Nasarawa State-owned Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic Lafia, the ASUP Chairman called on the state government to take urgent steps and set up an intervention programme including staff welfare to save the school from total collapse.
“Lecturers of Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic Lafia have not been promoted over three times. These promotions involve money. We need to write journals, present papers and attend conferences, after spending as much as over three hundred thousand Naira to work for the promotion at this difficult time, yet the government failed to implement the promotion.”
“This can lead to corruption in the system. They are simply telling you to recover your money from the students, and that is exactly what is happening,” he noted.
Dr. Obadia Ilah emphasized that lecturers had endured enough and could not guarantee industrial harmony any time soon if the state government failed to address their long overdue demands
“Lecturers sit under trees to perform their duties due to lack of office accommodations, most of the lecture halls are dilapidated, and students stay off campus. We call on the state government to intervene to improve the situation”, Ilah added.
