ASUP Strike: ‎Reps Call On FG To End Poly Lecturers Strike

The House of Representatives on Thursday called on the Federal Government to resolve the industrial action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics. 

The Academic Staff Union Of Polytechnics, (ASUP) embarked on an indefinite strike to press home the implementations of their demands from the Federal government since October 2013 The lengthy strike, which started in October 2013 has paralysed academic activities in polytechnics. The House passed the resolution after a member from Zamfara State,‎ Mr. Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, informed the members that the graduation of over 2million polytechnic students had been stalled because of the lingering dispute. He said the ambition of intending students had also been frustrated as no admissions had been carried out by the polytechnics this year. 

Shehu-Gusua noted that though the House Committee on Education had intervened in the crisis several times, there seemed to be no solution in sight. He added that one of the bone of contention was the non-release of the White Paper on the Visitation Panel to the polytechnics in 2012‎. ‎In his contribution to the debate on the issue, the Chairman of the Committee on Education, Mr. Aminu Suleiman, said the situation remained “disturbing.” 

He informed the House that a major setback was a memo the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission wrote the Ministry of Education, querying its decision to raise the salaries of the striking teachers. Suleiman spoke further, “We agreed that the unions should be part of the meeting, but only on Wednesday when I spoke with the ASUP President that we are waiting for their report, he informed me that the Ministry refused to make them part of the meeting. “That as a ministerial committee, the unions had no legal standing to be members.”