Polytechnic lecturers have been on strike in the last four months. Is there any hope that the strike will be called off soon? Michael Oche on some of the issues
The strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUP) since last October has left millions of polytechnic students frustrated. For up to four months now, students have remained at home and there seems to be no hope that the strike will be called off any time soon.
The strike in the Polytechnics has indeed distorted academic calendar. In the last one year, the polytechnic lecturers have gone on strike for an accumulated period of seven months.
ASUP had in April, 2013 declared a nationwide strike, following the refusal of government to address the union’s grievances.
The strike was later suspended in July after 81 days of inactivity in the nation’s polytechnic following the intervention of the Joint committee of the Senate and House of Representative on Education. The high expectation of students expecting to resume their normal academic calendar was however dashed when the union again embarked on another strike in October, 2013.
The union said it decided to resume its industrial action because the government failed to accede to their demands after a one month window.
After its university counterpart, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its five month strike last December, polytechnic students expressed optimism that the government will attend to the demands by ASUP.
However, that has not happened. President of ASUP, Dr Chibuzo Asomugha has persistently accused the Federal Government of not showing concern over the consequences of the industrial action insisting that the government has remained adamant to the demands of the union.
According to ASUP’s national Publicity Secretary, Clement Chirman, the whole thing about the strike is that there is no definite response from government. “It is the same thing over and over. It is either we meet, we are meeting, or we will meet; and after all the meetings, up till now, none of the issues have been tackled,” he said. Continue reading…