Poly Strike May Not End In 2022, Union President Declares

The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Anderson Ezeibe, has declared that the ongoing strike would linger till next year if the Federal government fails to meet its demands.

Ezeibe disclosed this on Tuesday while addressing members of the union at a meeting held at the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ogun state.

He lamented that almost one year after the Federal government signed a Memorandum of Action (MoA) with the union, the government failed to honor the agreement.

The union had declared a two-week warning strike after its emergency National Executive Council (NEC) held last Wednesday over none release of the approved revitalization fund for the sector, none release of 10 months arrears of the new minimum wage, and the none release of the reviewed normative instruments for institution/management and programmes accreditation, among others.

The ASUP President said the union had gone on a three-month strike in 2021 in protest of the government’s refusal to meet their demands.

Ezeibe noted that the two-week warning strike currently embarked on by members of the union is to signal the first layer of their protest against what he described as the irresponsibility and lack of commitment to improving the education sector.

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The ASUP President hinted that if by June when the NEC of the union would be meeting and the Federal government has not met its demands, the union may call for indefinite strike action.

He urged his members to be prepared for more strike actions, saying “the strike is not ending after two weeks, that is the point and the strike may not even end this year.”

Ezeibe said, it was regrettable that, “It is only in Nigeria that you go on strike to sign an agreement, you also go on strike to implement the agreement.”

“We call on the attention of the Nigerian government and the public to the level of irresponsibility being displayed by agencies of government and functionaries of government in these agencies on our issues. What we are seeing is a clear absence of commitment by the government.

“The meeting was more unless for the purpose of mobilizations as you know we on strike, and our members need to get the right perspective to the issue. So the meeting essentially was to raised the moral of our members explain the issue with them and encourage them to stand firmly.

“Our members should be prepared for more strikes, this is just a two weeks definite strike, it also means that we can recommend the strike, depends on the government decision. that is why I’m telling my members to be ready”.

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CREDIT: ALLSCHOOL, Daily Trust