LAGOS — THERE are strong indications that the strike by polytechnics lecturers, under the
aegis of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, may be called off today, as members
of ASUP’s National Executive Council, NEC, hold an emergency meeting, to appraise the
situation. The polytechnic lecturers have been on strike for the past 80 days. ASUP Chairman, Dr. Chibuzor Asumogba, while speaking to Vanguard, yesterday, said
“there has been a green light on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure
(CONTISS) 15. “We have strong reason to believe that CONTISS 15 will soon be implemented. But it is at
our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting tomorrow (today) that we will determine
whether or not to call off the strike.” The emergency ASUP NEC meeting, which holds at the Labour House in Abuja, is sequel to
the intervention of the Joint House Committee on Education into the strike. The committee, the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa’i and his Labour and
Productivity counterpart, Chief Emeka Wogu, had met with the union on July 9, urging
them to call-off the strike. Speaking to News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, earlier in Lagos, Asumogba said “the NEC is
meeting to appraise the progress made so far, following the meeting held with the
committee on education. We have received a green light on the CONTISS 15 and we have
promises here and there on other demands. The committee on education is proactive in
addressing our demands. The committee is highly placed and with its members’ integrity,
we have no doubt that our demands will be addressed.” It would be recalled that ASUP, among other reasons, went on strike citing the failure of
the federal and state governments to implement agreements on issues affecting
polytechnic education. ASUP wants a full implementation of CONTISS 15 and a stop to discrimination against
holders of the Higher National Diploma. The union is also protesting the absence of a National Polytechnics Commission and the
deplorable condition of many polytechnics in Nigeria.