The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ASUP

  • ASUP seeks waiver on TSA implementation in education

    ASUP seeks waiver on TSA implementation in education

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has said the full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) will be counter productive in the education sector as it will negatively affect the smooth running of tertiary institutions.

    The union wants the government to exempt tertiary institutions from implementing the TSA, arguing that they are not revenue generating institutions.

    National President of the Union, Comrade Chibuzo Asomugha, told reporters in Abuja that while they were in support of government plugging all the leakages, consideration should be given to the special nature of educational institutions.

    Asomugha said: “We are aware of Federal Government’s directives on the immediate commencement of the implementation of the Treasury Single Account. We recognise and acknowledge this as a welcome development that will block financial leakages, stem profligacy and track government’s revenue profile.

    “The tertiary sub-sector is purely service-oriented and its revenue is specifically tied to the daily running of the institutions and for the provision of consumables needed for teaching and learning. The TSA, though well-intended, will tie down the processes of provision of daily needs of the institutions and therefore hamper efficient service delivery.”

    The union also accused the government of evolving policies aimed at relegating the polytechnic sector to the background and undermining their products.

    Asomugha listed some of the policies as: discriminatory funding of the polytechnics, discriminatory cut off mark for admission into tertiary institutions, discrimination against Higher National Diploma (HND) holders, among others.

    He said the polytechnic sector is not only being quarantined and treated with apathy in career progression, “but its graduates and teachers are pathetically and consistently judged, not by the strength and character of their knowledge, learning and skills, but by the addresses of their institutions.”

    The union accused the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) of discriminating against the polytechnic sector in the disbursement of fund as against the distribution ration proscribed by law.

    He said: “The distribution of the fund between universities, polytechnics and colleges of education is statutory in the ratio of 2:1:1 or 25 per cent; 12.5 per cent; and 12.5 per cent. The reality on ground, however, is the gross short-changing of the polytechnic sector in the disbursement of the funds, especially in areas of special interventions, high impact intervention and staff development and training.The situation has left most of the polytechnics underdeveloped and dysfunctional.”

    The Union also warned that henceforth, they would not accept discriminatory cut-off mark for admission into polytechnics which tends to make them inferior.

    He said: “The admission policy of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, which profiles polytechnics as undesirable destinations for pursuit of tertiary education is absurd and unfortunate. The policy has failed to understand that polytechnic education is an aptitude-determined choice of the candidate and not a cesspool of desperation.Candidates who sit for matriculation examinations into tertiary institutions deserve equal treatment.

    “Candidates seeking to be admitted into the polytechnics should be placed on the same benchmark as their counterparts. This is to breach public perception which places our sector as inferior or incapable of competing with the best in terms of service delivery.”

    On membership of governing councils of polytechnics, Asomugha urged the government to appoint only credible people.

    He said: “Cognizant, therefore, of the sanctity of the statutes of the Federal Republic, which set up these Governing Councils on tenured terms and also cognizant of the peculiarly sensitive nature of tertiary institutions, we urge the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, reconstitute the Governing Councils of Federal Polytechnics using a template no less stringent and exerting as that used in the appointment of ministers.”

     

  • Salary: Ibadan Poly workers begin indefinite strike

    Salary: Ibadan Poly workers begin indefinite strike

    Academic activities collapsed Monday at the Polytechnic Ibadan as members of the Academic staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Polytechnic Ibadan chapter, embarked on an indefinite strike to protect the non-payment of five months’ salary arrears by the state government.

    Before the union announced the strike action, the aggrieved workers went round in procession to sensitise members on the industrial action following state government’s inability to pay outstanding salaries.

    The state secretary of ASUP, comrade Akande Adekunle while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan said members of the union have been working under hunger because government failed to pay workers five months salary arrears.

    Adekunle, who charged the state government to immediately offset the salary arrears without delay, noted that ASUP members have been experiencing irregularity in payment of their salaries since 2014, a situation which he said was not palatable to members as they do not have any other source of income.

    Meanwhile, all efforts to speak with the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution Adewole Soladoye on the matter proved abortive.

    Despite the peaceful protest by ASUP members in the Polytechnic Ibadan, the Student Union Government of the institution has promised to revive the school radio which will create employment opportunities within the institution.

    The newly elected SUG President Joseph Esho, while speaking with journalists during the swearing-in ceremony Monday , stated that the polytechnic radio is one of the innovations that the SUG plans to bring into the institution, one he believes will be a major way to communicate information to everyone.

    Esho who expressed optimism towards the revival of the Poly Radio, promised to actualize it through consultations with major stakeholders in the sector.

  • ASUP praises Wike for renaming RIV-POLY

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics Rivers State Polytechnics (ASUP-RIV-POLY) chapter, now known as Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, has praised the Rivers State Governor Ezenwo  Nyesom Wike for renaming RIV-POLY to Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic.

    In a briefing in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, ASUP  said the renaming of the institution  is a great honour to the late  Ogoni activist and the entire Ogoni people.

    The ASUP Chairman RIV-POLY chapter, Comrade Ferry Barineka Gberegbe, said with the gesture done to Ogoni people and the entire polytechnics community, the ASUP under his leadership will extend hands of fellowship to Wike’s administration.

    He said the institution and the Ogoni students have been longing for many years to see that this regard is accorded to Saro-Wiwa who put his life on the line for the liberation of his kinsmen, as good deeds deserve to be upheld to suppress bad.

    Gberegbe called on the government to improve the institution’s infrastructure with capacity building and staff to reflect its new status.

    He said Wike being a man who believes in due process and in the growth of the polytechnic sector, would listen to their plea by the institution’s management to take over the model secondary school at Saakpenwa in Tai Local government of Rivers State.

    The ASUP boss said:  “Governor Wike has done what we have expected the Federal government to have done in the last decade.

    ASUP, RIV-POLY chapter commends the governor for taking this decision that would improve the spirit of learning in the polytechnic.”

  • Pick an insider as rector, ASUP tells Wike

    Pick an insider as rector, ASUP tells Wike

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Rivers State chapter, yesterday urged the state governor, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, to look inward in the appointment of a Rector for the polytechnic.

    The union vowed to resist the appointment of a person from outside the institution as rector, saying that that the polytechnic has capable hands that can be appointed as Rector.

    The Chairman of ASUP, Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Comrade Ferry Barineka Gberegbe, disclosed this at a press briefing, held at the main campus of the polytechnic in Bori, the ancient city of Ogoni.

     He said Governor Wike, being a man who believes in due process and in the growth of the polytechnic, would follow due process in the selection of a Rector from the school environment to replace the present Rector, whose tenure will expire in January 2016.

    He noted that their decision is in line with the law which stipulated in section 31(3) of Rivers State Polytechnic law of 1999 as amended.

    Comrade Ferry said: “Just as all politicians will like to rise to the highest political office in the land, all academic staff in the polytechnic desire to also rise to become the Rector. We don’t have space for strangers and learners, but experienced polytechnic staff that understand the intrigues of the polytechnic system.

    “We are assuring the governor of Rivers State that we have many capable hands that can manage the affairs of our institution. There is nobody that can understand our problems better than an insider. In fact, the issue of appointing an internal Rector is sacrosanct to all the unions in the campus.”

    The ASUP, however, commended the governor for renaming the polytechnic after the late activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.

  • YABATECH ASUP fetes retirees

    YABATECH ASUP fetes retirees

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) chapter, has honoured some retired lecturers of the institution. They included the former deputy rector Mr Kolade Oshinowo.

    The event was the maiden valedictory congress organised by the union.

    Oshinowo advised workers, especially academics, to prepare for their retirement while in service.

    Once in retirement, Oshinowo said, most people were forgotten except few productive ones who were relevant.

    “Service is not for a lifetime,” Oshinowo warned. “People should be conscious of time as lots of it is wasted on unproductive things which should stop. Become an expert in your field, write books if you are in the arts; fabricate if you are in the engineering; just do something with time.”

    Oshinowo who was the special guest of honour, urged the lecturers to take advantage of opportunities like research and others they enjoy while in service, in addition to knowing when to retire.

    “I retired when I was 60 despite inducements to stay,” he added.

    Chairman, ASUP, YABATECH Comrade Adeyemi Aromolaran gave reason for the event.

    He said: “The purpose is to honour ourselves, in particular, our senior colleagues who are retiring after years of meritorious service to the college, and also to fraternise with our seniors that have left over 20,30,40 years ago.

    “It was borne out of observation of the perceived indecent manner in which our members have been retiring after years of service without celebration.

    “In ASUP-YABATECH lexicon, the valedictory congress has come to stay as an annual event from now on.”

    The awards were divided into three: category one was for the elder statesmen, old retirees of over 10 years and above. The second was meant for past ASUP chairmen, while the immediate retirees comprised the third cadre. Over 33 awards were presented to the retirees.

    Aromolaran calls on YABATECH management to put in place a befitting annual retirement celebration of workers’ years of service to the institution”.

  • No technical intent in polytechnic education, ASUP laments

    No technical intent in polytechnic education, ASUP laments

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has accused successive governments in Nigeria of formulating policies that are antithetical to polytechnic education.

    ASUP added that there is no technical intent in the delivery of polytechnic education in the country.

    National President of the union, Chibuzo Asomugha, said this during the 81st National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union hosted by the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (FEPOFFA), Kwara State.

    He, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review, on a stakeholders’ platform, the present state of Nigerian polytechnics.

    He said that Buhari should allow the practitioners and all stakeholders to evolve a model that can fit into contemporary times, especially in meeting up with global standards.

    He said: “There is no understanding of what we really want polytechnic education to be. We have deviated from the original vision. There is no focus. There is hardly any technical intent in the delivery of polytechnic education and we must return to the basics. This dovetails into what happens in the wider economy, in the industries and workplace.

    “There is no contact between the industries and the schools, because of that hiatus it is not coordinating. It is like we are just producing polytechnic graduates without actually being able to exactly know where they will fit in.”

    On the discrimination between university and polytechnic graduates, Asomugha urged the President to fulfil his campaign promise to “look at the issue of discrimination against HND graduates.”

    He said: “Thousands of Nigerians are seeking tertiary education in this sector and the system is structured in such a way that already by making that choice they are placed as not meeting up to the standard of another sub-sector. It is better government looks at these issues completely.

    “Paucity in funding eventually derives from the perception of polytechnic education in the minds of policy makers. When you don’t consider that a system is serious enough then you don’t give it serious consideration in fund. Even in Tertiary Education Fund (TEDFUND) you find out that there is lopsidedness among the three sub-sectors that participate.

    “The polytechnics are clearly disadvantaged. We tasked the past government to monitor its funding of the sector. Don’t just throw money in a system and then go and write in the papers that you are funding such system. With all the money that government is parading that it has thrown into the system, government has not gotten better result because of lack of proper monitoring.”

    Chairman, ASUP, FEDPOFFA, Dr Shola Ojeniyi said the poor regard for polytechnic education was caused by the ineptitude of success governments.

    “By this meeting I am envisaging that we will come out with a statement that would remind the new government of the need to direct its focus of polytechnic education in Nigeria and at least try to tap from the potentials we have to technological advancement of the country,” he said.

  • Poly teachers suspend planned strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), last night, suspended its planned nationwide strike scheduled to begin today in all polytechnics across the country.

    This followed two hours of meeting with the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau and the House of Representatives Committee on Education.

    The union had a two-hour meeting with the minister beginning at 11am and another with the committee, which ended at 7pm.

    ASUP’s spokesman Comrade Clement Chirman told reporters in a telephone interview after the meeting at the National Assembly that the union’s negotiation team would relay the outcome of the meetings to ASUP’s national executive council.

    While asking members of the union to continue to perform their  duties, the spokesman said the union and government would continue to dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.

    The polytechnic teachers were protesting a circular by the Ministry of Education, suspending the implementation of CONTISS 15 and the decisions by the governing councils of the Federal Polytechnics Oko in Anambra State and Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State to suspend all union activities in the institutions and the sack of union leaders.

    According to him, the minister  ordered the immediate withdrawal of the circular suspending CONTISS 15 and the restoration of union activities in the affected institutions.

    He added that Shekarau also assured that the ministry will look into other demands, which border on increased funding for polytechnics and improved staff welfare.

    The lawmakers, he said,  agreed to expedite action on other demands of the lecturers, which also include the passing into law a bill establishing a national polytechnic commission.

  • ASUP threatens to shut polytechnics again

    ASUP threatens to shut polytechnics again

    Eight months after suspending its industrial action at the instance of the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has issued a two- week ultimatum to the federal government.

    ASUP warned the government to implement the tents of the agreement or face yet another protracted strike in the nation’s polytechnics.

    The union said that the decision of the government to suspend the implementation of CONTISS 15 salary structure was provocative, ill timed and retrogressive.

    The decision, it added, was a flagrant breach of the trust and character of the agreement that led to the suspension of the strike in July, 2014.

    National President of the union, Comrade Chibuzor Asomuga, stated these at a news conference in Abuja.

    He said the strike, expected to resume on Wednesday, was occasioned by failure of government to honour agreements with the union.

    Asomuga lamented the failure of government to attend to demands by the union, which led to prolonged strike between 2013 and 2014.

    He pointed out that the polytechnic sector is still undergoing a frenzied recovery from the scars of the last strike.

    He also condemned what he called cases of maladministration, wanton abuse of executive privileges, breach for law and intimidation of the union and its members in some polytechnics across the country.

    The ASUP’s helmsman stressed that the union will not condone such excesses any longer.

    On demands of the union, he said:”The federal government should, without further delay, dissolve the governing councils of the federal polytechnics Oko and Ado Ekiti as they have become burdens rather than solutions to the myriad of problems bedevilling the sector.

    “That the circular issued by the Ministry of Education suspending the implementation CONTISS 15 migration be withdrawn with immediate effect as the suspension is ill-timed and counterproductive and will create further tension in the sector.”

    He further explained: “In July 2014, our union suspended the strike on the plea of the then new Hon Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, who had requested for a three- month moratorium to enable him tackle the lingering problems.

    “Unfortunately and sadly too, since the suspension of that strike and despite our strong reminders to government on the pending issues and repeated assurances from Honourable Minister of Education, none of the issues has been addressed to a logical conclusion.

    “In a strange twist, rather, and without recourse to the content and spirit of the understanding on which the union suspended the strike, the Federal Ministry of Education on the 26th of January 2015, under the guise of a proposed verification exercise, issued a circular directing the suspension of the CONTISS 15 Salary Structure which implementation dates back to 2009, thereby, creating further confusion in the sector.”

     

  • Students hail minister on ASUP strike

    Students in polytechnics across the country have commended the efforts of the new Minister of Education, Alhaji Ibrahim Shakarau, for ending the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) strike. They urged the Minister to work with the federal government to avert further industrial action and safeguard the education sector from collapse.

    When our correspondent visited the Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, last week, students were set to resume lectures on Monday July 28.

    Speaker of the legislative arm of the institution’s Students’ Union Government (SUG), Joshua Akinjayeju, said academic activities would not commence fully until management put all structures in place.

    “We urge management to avoid interference with the traditional calendar of the school so that students will not have room to demand for extension of examination which had often resulted in protests.  We also advice that lecturers should be monitored so that we will not employ brigandage approach in lectures and administration of continuous assessments,” he stated.

    The Director of Public Relations, Mr Charles Oni, said management had approved new academic calendar, adding that registration which started July 17 would end 25th. He stated that the Quality Control Unit of the college had been mandated to monitor academic activities, adding that lecturers would not be allowed to administer tests during the free lecture period.

  • ASUP/COEASU resumption: Students recount pains of prolonged strikes

    ASUP/COEASU resumption: Students recount pains of prolonged strikes

    POLYTECHNIC and College of Education students who wasted close to a year during the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) have described the industrial action as a wasted venture.

    ASUP and COEASU suspended their strike after the intervention of the newly appointed Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.

    In separate reactions yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the students regretted that the strike caused socio-psychological havocs in their lives, leading to unwanted pregnancies and involvement in crimes.

    The Student Union Government (SUG) President of Federal College of Education Technical Omoku, Rivers State,   Comrade Ekeakita Hector Chinem, said:  ”the strike is a total failure and had caused more pains to students than what the management intended to achieve.”

    He said the action frustrated students, adding that more than 25% of their female counterparts are carrying unwanted pregnancies while some of the males are wasting in police cells for various offences.

    He said: “This is a shame on the side of the Hon. Minister of State for Education Chief Nyesom Wike who was in-change to amicably resolve the striking issue but failed to do so. As far as I am concerned it is an act of wickedness.

    ”With the level of unwanted pregnancies we have witnessed in my campus, it shows that the female students were prostituting during the period of strike and that was what Wike was able to achieve.”

    The SUG President of Federal Polytechnic Oko Anambra State, Comrade Nwite Ogbonna aka Okadigbo said keeping the students out of classroom for that long shows that the federal government has no feeling for polytechnic sector.

    According to him: “I was going to graduate last year before the strike started. Now if I were in year one intending to enter year two before the strike started, would I return to year one after staying close to a year at home? This is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

    A student of Alvan-Ikoku Federal Polytechnic Imo State, Onyiyechi Akajigba said: “One of my friends got pregnant but died why aborting it. It will go down on record that this government has no regard for the future of polytechnics and Collage of Education students.”