ASUP Threatens Strike Action Over Unpaid N15bn Revitalisation Funds, Others

Lecturers in polytechnics across Nigeria have threatened to embark on industrial strike action over the “lethargy” of the government in its response to its demands.

Lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), made this known at its 101st National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Gateway ICT Polytechnic, Ogun State.

The union warned that there would be no “further warnings” if the government failed to meet its demands.

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It said, “And of particular interest in the items include the non-release of the approved N15 billion Revitalisation Fund for the sector more than three months after the approval, non-release of Minimum Wage Arrears to staff of Federal Polytechnics and several State-owned Polytechnics, non-commencement of the Renegotiation of the Union’s 2010 agreement despite the reconstitution of Governing Councils, as well as the continued non-payment of salaries in several state-owned institutions.

“So, in view of the unsatisfactory status of the implementation of the union’s MoA signed with the government in April 2021, the Nigerian public should hold the government and its agencies responsible for any other breakdown of industrial harmony in the sector as our union and her members have shown considerable patience and restraint.

“But in the interim, while the union once again demands that the government should without further delay fulfil the agreements, the union has also resolved to deepen its consultation on the next steps as there will be no further warnings if the government fails to do the needful in the immediate.”