No Going Back On Strike, ASUP Says

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) on Saturday instructed its members to commence strike from tomorrow, saying there is no going back on its words, seeing that the Federal is toying with the demand of the union.

Speaking with THISDAY, National President of the union, Comrade Chibuzor Asumogha said “it is true that we met with the Minister of Education on Friday, but there are certain things we discussed and agreed on, which he has not done, so we’re going ahead with the strike.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the union, Comrade Chirman Clement Selchum, said the meeting with the interim Education Minister, Honourable Nyeson Wike, and his Labour Ministry counterpart, Hon Emeka Wogu, ended on Friday evening with the agreement that Wike should go back and announce the list of members of the Needs Assessment of Polytechnics, which he said the Federal Government had already approved and constituted, and also to release the white paper of visitation to Federal Polytechnics, which, he said, is already being worked on.

“But the minister went back, called the press and told them a different thing from what was agreed upon at the meeting,” he said, adding, “Wike also went ahead to tell the public that the strike will therefore not go ahead, “querying whether it was the Minister that should tell the union members on whether or not they were going ahead with the strike.

Chirman reiterated that “for the avoidance of doubt, the union is going ahead with the strike action until all its demands have been meet by the government,” lamenting that government seems not to be sincere with its dealing with the union.

He added that “government has not even explained to us where it will get the fund for the circular for the CONTISS 15 that it has released, because NBTE said it has no money for that, since such arrangement was not made in the budget.”