By Tina George, Minna
The Federal Polytechnic Bida branch of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), has staged a protest at the Palace of Etsu Nupe in Bida, Niger state, over planned sack of its officers and senior lecturers by the management of the institution.
The lecturers said they would occupy the palace until the royal father waded into the crisis that was threatening to drown the institution.
Although the protest was peaceful, security agencies were on ground to ensure that the protest did not escalate, as another group was rumoured to counter the protest of the lecturers.
The ASUP Chairman, Dr Umar Saganuwon, led the group of protesters who carried placards with various inscriptions, including: “Dzukogi must go”, “We will not be intimidated”, “We say no to forced sack”, “Due process must be followed”, etc.
The Lecturers called on the Etsu Nupe, Dr. Yahaya Abubakar, to intervene before the crisis engulfed the institution.
“Dzukogi finally wants to sack some staff for his alleged disobedience to his order. Members are on strike and he has circulated a memo of No Work No Pay”, the ASUP Chairman, Dr. Umar Saganuwon said.
Newsdiaryonline gathered that the lecturers received messages on Tuesday of the Rector’s plan to dismiss all Deans, heads of departments, HODs, and other individuals, who had planned to stage protest over what they termed, “a bid to intimidate them.”
“Fellow Comrades, the Rector has concluded plans to dismiss all CEC, all Deans, HODs and some individuals immediately. Members are therefore invited to converge at Bida forestry (Social Welfare) by 7 am tomorrow Tuesday 14/1/2020 prompt. Please put on your ASUP-BD T-Shirt and ID card. Chairman”, the text message read.
It would be recalled that the Union had been in a running battle with the Rector accusing him to recruiting about 600 staff without advertising the job vacancies and of mismanaging the finances of the institution.
The Union had then called on the Federal Government to send an investigative panel to the institution and they have been on strike for more than three months.
The Etsu Nupe, Dr.Yahaya Abubakar, who addressed the protesters said he will not support the dismissal of any of the Polytechnic staff.
He stated that the Governing Council of the Polytechnic and ASUP need to sit down peacefully for a dialogue in order to resolve the ongoing crisis.
