In Spite Of Meeting With FG, Our Strike Continues – ASUP President 

BY TEMI OHAKWE, ABUJA – The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), on Tuesday vowed that its ongoing strike which commenced by 12 midnight of April 6, 2021 remains in place in spite of the meeting with the Federal Government.

National President of ASUP, Mr. Anderson Ezeibe, who announced this at the end of the meeting of ASUP national leadership and the Federal Ministry of Education led by the minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the strike has not been suspended.

Ezeibe said that the meeting with the minister of Education was just the beginning of a resolution, stressing that until resolutions are reached satisfactorily, the strike has to continue.

According to ASUP President; “Today, therefore marks day 1 of the execution of the resolutions of our union. The strike has not been suspended as it is just a few hours old”.

However, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu said that nothing is impossible in reaching an agreement with the union, adding that the governing council has been selected and will be inaugurated in no distant time.

Adamu said that he will not go into specifics of the document handed over to him by the national president of ASUP, which is a detailed brief of the negotiations.

The minister questioned why the Rapid Response Committee abandoned its meetings, and assured the union that all points raised will be carefully looked into and attended to.

Adamu said; “Today, I will not go into specifics or give you any answers. If I’m not mistaken, I have 13 points that you have read out. The permanent secretary is not here, or else I would have asked him why the Rapid Response Committee is no longer holding its meetings. The committee can solve eight of the issues raised”.

The minister assured the Union that Governing council for the Polytechnics is already in place, saying; “I can assure you that it is set already. We were just waiting for the break to be over and they will be announced and inaugurated. All the points will be looked into carefully and I give you assurance that all will be attended to.”

The National President however said that the non-implementation of NEEDS Assessment report of 2014 in the sector, as well as the inability to release any revitalization fund to the sector despite assurances since 2017 is one key factor serving as catalyst to the strike.