Nigeria’s Polytechnic Lecturers May Resume Nationwide Strike

By Lawal A. Dogara, Kaduna
A nationwide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics ASUP looms again in Nigeria following the expiration of the three -month period of grace given to Mallam Shekarau on assumption of office as Minister of Education to act on the Union’s demand.
The Union went on strike for almost ten months prior to the assumption of office by Skekarau who had promised to look into the agreement by asking the union to soft pedal and allow him time.
The 3 months period of grace expired Wednesday 15th October, 2014 with no sign of commitment on the part of Government to the implementation of the agreement signed between the two parties in 2009.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna on Friday, officials of the union from the Kaduna Polytechnic led by the newly elected Branch Chairman, Mallam Musa Ibrahim said the continued government silence over the Union demands “seems that the only language Government understands is strike.”
He explained that the issue between the Union and the Government was no more a demand, but the implementation of the 13 point agreement.
Mallam Musa Ibrahim disclosed that the national body of the Union would meet with the Minister on Monday 20th October, 2014 over the unfulfilled promise with a view to taking a stance.
He said the Union is very considerate in its pursuits saying “whenever we go on strike our brain becomes dormant which is not in our own interest.”