The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic
commenced an industrial action in October 2013 to press home their
demands, which includes the formation of a commission to regulate the
activities of the polytechnics.
The lecturers also demanded the migration
of the lower cadres on the CONTISS 15 salary scale, an end to the
dichotomy between university and polytechnic graduates in terms of job
placements and career progression, among other issues.
The refusal of the Federal Government to
implement an agreement reached in 2010, poor infrastructure development
in colleges of education, poor funding, non- release of the white paper
on visitation panel reports, and imposition of the Integrated Personnel
and Payroll Information System were other reasons for the strike.
But after almost a year of insisting on
their demands and months of not being paid, the lecturers have indicated
a willingness to reach a compromise for the sake of the students and
the country at large.
In separate conversations with our
correspondent, the striking lecturers said they were concerned about the
quality of education being handed over to their students, saying that
polytechnics needed to be empowered for global relevance.
They explained that contrary to the view
that their demands were only centred on their salary, the welfare of
their students while in school and after graduation was very important
to them.
Moreover, they stressed that establishing
a regulatory body in place of the National Board of Technical Education
would be a step towards improving the conditions of polytechnics.
A senior lecturer at the Yaba College of
Technology, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The truth is that
the industrial action is getting prolonged and we pity the students
including the Nigerian populace as a whole. Nigerians think that
basically our demands are on salary alone, but that is not the main
reason.
“We are talking about the technological
advancement of a nation. When the institutions are not well-equipped,
how do you want them to reach that level?
“Some of us that have the opportunity to
travel abroad for one seminar or the other have observed that some of
our colleagues are considered mediocrities because of the kind of
platform that exists there that does not existing in our country and we
feel bad.”
The lecturer explained that because
polytechnics were established mainly to enable Nigerians acquire
adequate technical knowledge, there was the need for them to be taken
seriously.
According to him, while it is okay for
the technical colleges to be under NABTE, polytechnics needed a separate
body because they cannot function under a regulatory body for
vocational education.
A lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic,
Ede, Kabir Lawal, lamented that for the past nine months, none of their
(the lecturers’) demands had been met.
Lawal stressed that the demands were
mainly centred on equal recognition for both polytechnic and university
graduates and having a polytechnic commission.
He said, “I am not aware of any part of
the demands that is being met. The polytechnic commission will make us
independent. Also, we should not be under Nigeria Board of Technical
Education.
The spokesperson of ASUP, Osun State
Polytechnic of Technology chapter, Mr. Agboola Ishola, said the
lecturers were willing to shelve the strike if some of their demands
were met.
He said, “Assuming we have six demands,
if three are met, we would be all right; four out of six is also all
right. We don’t want our students to become rogues; therefore, we want
to resume work.
“The Federal Government itself is an
entity and the workers an entity, that is why we want to reach a
compromise. When we have a dialogue at the end of the day we want to
ensure that our demands are met.”
Agboola, who said government had not paid
the striking lecturers for the past four months in order to dissuade
them from continuing the strike, warned that the strategy would not
work.
Besides the general demands by the
lecturers, he said certain issues were peculiar to OSPOTECH such as
failure of government to make contributions to the pension scheme for
years.
He said, “For the past four years, only
lecturers are contributing to the pension contributory account, while
the government have not made its own contribution.
“Yet, every month our money is being
deducted. We have told them to stop deducting our money until the
government makes its own contribution, but nothing has been done about
it.”
While many of the lecturers have warned
that they will not be bullied into calling off the strike, some are
worried that it has lasted for a long time.
The Journal Teacher’s Education
Secretary, Sam Adeyemi College of Education, Mr. Faniyi Kayode, said,
“Right now, it has been agreed that the strike should continue till
further notice.
“(But) I am not satisfied with the
current situation because we have not been paid since the strike
started; we don’t have any other business apart from this job.”
The Federal Government recently set up a
committee to look into the demands of colleges of education in the
country to award degree certificate as applicable in the universities.
As the committee goes about its work and
with a major breakthrough yet to be achieved with regards to meeting the
demands or reaching a compromise, some lecturers are beginning to lose
hope and the will to stay away from work.
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