Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) today began a nationwide indefinite strike action to press home their demand for the implementation of a new salary scheme for polytechnic lecturers.
Asides from the new salary scheme, the union is also demanding payment of salaries and promotion allowances owed lecturers by some state governments.
The action is coming less than a week after resident doctors embarked on a nationwide strike over non-payment of allowances and other issues and commencement of strike by judiciary workers.
ASUP said the followed the expiration of tbe ultimatum issued to federal government since March 2020 and failure to address the sorry state of polytechnics and monotechnics.
Anderson Ezeibe, the ASUP President, while announcing this at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, said academic activities had been shut shown in all polytechnics and like institutions nationwide with effect from 12 am April 6.
Ezeibe said the union’s demands were communicated to the ministries of education, labour and others, as well as, to state governors but nothing was done about them.
He listed the lecturers’ grievances to include non-implementation of the 2014 NEEDS Report and non-release of revitalization fund to the sector despite assurances since 2017.
“Our grievances also include the non-reconstitution of governing councils in federal polytechnics and many state-owned institutions leading to the disruption of governance and administrative processes in the institutions since May 2020.
“This has also undermined the renegotiation of the union’s 2010 agreement with the government which was unilaterally suspended by the government for over two years now,” he said.
