The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Strike

  • Strike takes toll in Ondo

    Strike takes toll in Ondo

    From Akure DAMISI OJO reports that patients in various hospitals across Ondo State are having a traumatic experience over the nationwide strike embarked upon by members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA)over their demands which had crippled medical services in government hospitals in the State.

    Many of the hospitals visited by The Nation in Akure and few local government areas showed that many patients have been forcefully discharged from the hospitals.

    According to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the State Specialist Hospital, Akure, Dr Adeniran Ikuomola, patients with serious conditions had been discharged even before the commencement of the strike, in anticipation of any eventuality.

    He said the management took the decision to reduce the sufferings of the patients, stressing that those left behind are having minor cases that could be handled by nurses.

    Dr Ikuomola said repeated appeals for skeletal services were rebuffed because the NMA has threatened to sanction any doctor that tries to sabotage the struggle.

    He expressed optimism that the strike would not last too long before it is resolved, stressing that God has been in total control of their activities at the hospital since the strike commenced without casualties.

    Activities were at the lowest ebb at the Specialist Hospital. Its premises were deserted, no medical doctors available. However, security men at the gates were at alert watching visitor’s movement in and out of the hospital.

    Nurses were at work to give assistance to few patients whose conditions warrant attention.

    The congested wards of the hospital which normally enjoys heavy presence of doctors however had other health workers attending to in-patients.

    The Accident and Emergency (A and E) units of the hospital, which also treats emergency cases, were also deserted.

    The male ward was empty, with nurses busy sorting out pending files.  In the female surgical wards, a few patients listed in minor condition were on their beds sleeping.

    Senior Nurses were in the Children ward attending to them, some were even being bathed.

    At the General hospital in Okitipupa, it was learnt that patients who had decided to move out left for their respective homes to rely on their medications pending the end of the strike.

    Sources said nurses at the hospital were overburdened, and had advised patients to leave the hospital wards in their own interest.

    At the Ikare Akoko General hospital, sources hinted that nurses were managing the few patients in the wards. They were said to be administering drugs to in-patients.

    Sources said the nurses there were only attending to in-patients, and that new patients were being prevented from obtaining hospital cards for treatment.

    The story was the same at Ido Ani government hospital in Ose local government area, where no doctor was available.  Some patients were seen pleading with nurses to give them drugs.

    It was gathered that many of the patients had been advised to return to their respective homes.

    With this development, owners of private hospitals in the state are now smiling to their banks as they are now having a boom in business because of surging patients.

    A patient, Mrs Doriz Okofu said the strike embarked upon by doctors would have adverse effect on the masses, stressing that many ailing persons in severe conditions had been discharged immediately.

    She pleaded with the federal government to meet the demand of the doctors to rescue people from untimely deaths.

    Reports from Federal Medical Centre (FMC) indicate that Residents Doctors also abandoned various wards, but Consultants and Nurses were at their duty posts attending to patients.

    Its Chief Medical Director (CMD) Dr Olufemi Omotosho said the Consultants and Nurses were carrying out their normal duties as expected saying the hospital is not feeling the pulse of the strike too much.

    However, a visit to the Mother and Child Hospitals both in Akure and Ondo town was a different ball game.

    Consultants and Nurses were fully at work as normal medical services were being rendered to the people and patients. The Medical personnel there declined comments on the doctors’ strike.

    A relative of one of the patients on admission at the State Specialists Hospital in Akure, Mr Amos Jayeoba told The Nation that they decided to remain behind in the hospital because they could not afford the huge medical bill at a private hospital in the vicinity.

    According to him, “God has been helping me with the assistance of nurses around to manage the health condition of my younger brother Sunday who had a road accident a month before the strike and may be discharged this week.

    He used the opportunity to plead with the federal government to respond to the demands of the striking Doctors to save human lives.

  • Minister begs ASUP to call off strike

    Minister begs ASUP to call off strike

    …as committee to bridge HND/B.Sc dichotomy submits report

    The Supervising Minister of Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, yesterday appealed to the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) to call off its 11-month-old industrial action in the interest of the country.

    Wike assured that government is working assiduously to see that issues surrounding the strike are properly addressed.

    He said this in Abuja at the presentation of the report of the technical committee set up by the Federal Government on the removal of ceiling on career progression of HND holders and dichotomy between HND holders and degrees holders.

    The minister promised that the report would be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for immediate action.

    His words: “Let me on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for completing the assignment given to them. Of cause we all know that this assignment is very serious; it is not any easy one, but what is important is that you have come up with far reaching decisions that would help to address some of the challenges that have been identified in the polytechnic sector.

    “It is for ASUP to know that government is willing to solve the entire problem, but ASUP should know that the interest of this nation is paramount to everybody and that government is doing a lot of sacrifices to meet up on its own demand. ASUP should also in the interest of the nation call off the strike.”

    The committee called for the strengthening of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) so that it can continue with the review of curricular of the polytechnic sector and bring it in line with global and industrial standard.

    Presenting the report the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, who is also the chairman of the committee, explained that the committee identified the imperative for changes to be made in classification of HND holders in the Scheme of Service as a first step to opening the career ladder to enable them reach the maximum grade levels in the civil service.

    He also underlined the need to maintain standards, by not creating two different B. Tech degrees, and therefore considered it more beneficial to synchronize the B. Tech Curriculum proposed by the NBTE, for the polytechnics with the B. Tech degree approved for the universities by NUC, to avoid further dichotomy.

    Speaking to journalists shortly after the presentation of the report, the President of ASUP, Chibuzor Asumogha, disclosed that the presentation of the report was “a step forward” in calling off the strike.

  • Photo: Doctors strike across Nigeria

    Photo: Doctors strike across Nigeria

  • ‘YABATECH is still on strike’

    ACADEMIC Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) has denied the rumour that the institution has pulled out of the on-going nationwide strike embark on by the union.

    ASUP chapter chairman, Adeyemi Aromolaran, said the institution reamined shut, adding that the chapter was committed to joining hands with other polytechnics in the country to demand better education system for students.

    Shola Orisalade, HND II Civil Engineering, said: “Its nine months now since the whole crisis began and government seems not to be concerned. ASUP is committed to finding lasting solution to the mess created by the government. I will be very happy if the college could decide to pull out of the strike.”

    The Speaker of the Students’ Union legislative arm, Joshua Akinjayeju, said the strike had paralysed the educational pursuits of many students.

  • 11-month teachers’ strike keeps polytechnics grounded

    11-month teachers’ strike keeps polytechnics grounded

    The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has been on strike for 11 months.  Students are lamenting the long stay at home. Lecturers are urging them to endure for their own good, reports KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE.

    On Tuesday, vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and registrars of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education met with the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Dibu Ojerinde, in Abuja, to determine the cut-off marks for the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) written in April/May.

    The meeting signified the start of the admission process for the 2014/2015 academic session. However, polytechnics are in a dilemma. The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has been on strike for the past 11 months.

    The strike which began in April 2013, was suspended in July, and resumed on October 4, 2013. It is still on.

    Many polytechnics have lost a session. Mr Adeyemi Adejolu, Deputy Registrar, Information and Protocol at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State, said a set of National Diploma (ND) I students admitted for the 2013/2014 session had been unable to resume because of the strike.

    “It has affected normal academic activities. Students admitted for the 2013/2014 session cannot resume. At the time ASUP went on break last July, we rounded up the session and screened new students for admission. But the students admitted have not been able to resume for lectures. We can say we have lost a year. The dilemma we are in right now is that JAMB stakeholders’ committee is meeting today (Tuesday) in Abuja to fix national cutoff. That means we will have another set waiting to come in,” he said.

    Deputy Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Dr Don Muo, has expressed similar concerns. Urging ASUP to call off the strike, he said the lengthy impasse has stagnated students’ progress and denied them lectures for the required length of time.

    Polytechnic students are also lamenting the strike. Emeka Onwudinjo, National Diploma II student of Mass Communication at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, said the long stay at home was unexpected and has led to some students getting into trouble.

    “The strike has had a terrible effect on students. Students have been involving themselves in criminal acts. A few days ago, one was caught involved in kidnapping. He was paraded in Awka. There is a popular saying that an ideal mind is the devil’s workshop. Assuming the Federal Government negotiated with ASUP and they call off the strike, I don’t think the boy would have found himself in this situation. We did not expect that the strike would be this long,” he said.

    Suliat Abodunrin, a National Diploma (ND) I student of the Federal Polytechnic Offa (FEDPOFFA), told The Nation that but for the four-month Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) that she is currently undergoing, she would have been at home like most of her peers. By now, she said she should have completed her ND programme, like many of her peers in state-owned polytechnics that did not join the strike, but she has been slowed down by the industrial action.

    “I believe they have wasted our time. They (lecturers) should reach a compromise with the government so we can return to school. We don’t want to seem ungrateful because some of their demands will benefit us but they should also think of us,” she said.

    But the ASUP leaders argue that they are indeed thinking of the students in some of their demands. The union, which has tabled 13 demands before the Federal Government, is unsatisfied with the way the negotiations have been handled.

    At a congress at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) last Thursday, the National ASUP President, Dr Chibuzor Asomugha, said the strike would continue until the government addressed the issues.

    He said: “As a union, we are constrained to say that unless urgent steps are taken by President Goodluck Jonathan to address the decadent conditions of Nigeria’s polytechnics today, the nation shall surely be headed for jeopardy. We shall remain resolute and continue with the strike until all the issues put before Government by our union are satisfactorily addressed.”

    The 13 demands of the union include the following: HND/BSc dichotomy; non release of the White Paper on the Visitations to Federal Polytechnics; the refusal of government to fund the implementation of CONTISS 15 migration for the Lower cadres and its arrears as from 2009; non-establishment of a National Polytechnics Commission (NPC) and the continued recognition of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) as a regulatory body for Polytechnics; and the snail pace of the review of the Polytechnic Act by the National Assembly.

    Others are: Under funding of the Polytechnic sub-sector and the discrimination in disbursements of TETfund grants; non re-negotiation of the FGN/ASUP agreement; implementation of Integrated Personnel Payment System (IPPIS) in polytechnics only; poor state of most state owned polytechnics; appointment of unqualified persons as Rectors and Provosts of Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Technologies by some state governments; non implementation of the approved salary package (CONPCASS) and 65-year retirement age for their Polytechnics, Monotechnics and College of Technologies; and the Needs Assessment of polytechnics.

    In an interview, Asomugha said the Federal Government has not demonstrated the readiness to end the strike. He complained that the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, rather than resolving the issues, has been complicating matters by contracting himself.

    He said: “We are particularly worried about the disposition and posture of the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, who appears not to have grasped the intricacies of the workings of tertiary education. By his utterances and actions, The Minister has tended to frustrate the resolution process contradicting himself on most pronouncements concerning reasons for the strike.

    “Perplexingly, when the House of Representatives Committee on education convened a stake holders meeting aimed at resolving the strike, the Hon Minister of Education had informed the stakeholders that the CONTISS 15 Migration had been queried by the Salaries Income & Wages Commission and an Inter-Ministerial Committee set up by Government to look into the matter. The Hon minister promised the inclusion of the unions in the Committee which was to submit its report in one week. Surprising the union has not been invited for any of that committee’s meetings.

    “Again when the Senate Committee on Education called for a stakeholders’ meeting on the matter on 24th June, 2014, neither the Minister nor any of the other government agencies honoured the Senate’s invitation. The same Hon Supervising Minister had gone ahead to make arbitrarily appointment of university professors as rectors of polytechnics in wanton breach of extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    Asomugha also said the union was dissatisfied with the way the committee set up to address the HND/BSc dichotomy handled the case.

    “A committee was set up but we were not satisfied with their work. We are waiting for them to submit their report so we will raise our own objections,” he said.

    On the appointment of rectors from outside the polytechnic system, Asomugha said many polytechnic lecturers have the requisite qualifications to be made rectors instead of imposing professors from the university system.

    “Don’t we have Ph.D holders in polytechnics? There is no academic qualification called professor. The highest qualification is the PhD and there are many that have it in the polytechnic system,” he said.

    In an interview, Mr Tunji Owoeye, chairman of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti ASUP, claimed that Wike was employing tactics to frustrate the union’s negotiations. He therefore called for Wike’s removal.

    “There is a deadlock now because it seems the minister is using setback tactics. This same minister who said the CONTISS 16 would be paid twice has now gone to the ministry of wages to say that CONTISS 16 is illegal. So, instead of paying arrears now, those who were promoted to CONTISS 15 will be de-migrated,” he said.

    Defending the strike, Owoeye said though students may be affected now, they would be the beneficiaries of one of the key demands, the abolishment of the HND/BSc dichotomy.

    “The strike may be adversely affecting students but we are doing it for their sake. Look at the disparity between HND and BSc Accounting holders. Are you saying they are different from each other? We are urging the Federal Government to do the harmonization and allow polytechnics to offer BTECH degrees,” he said.

    Explaining why the union is against the IPPIS, Owoeye said it would deny them of payment that is rightfully theirs.

    “We don’t want the IPPIS because it centralises the payment system. For instance, if you are on sabbatical in another institution, your salary continues to run. How do they recognize that at the centre? It also affects other contributions like our cooperative etc. We are not civil servants but they want to turn us into civil servants,” he said.

    When contacted, Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant (Media) to the Supervising Minister of Education refused to comment on the crisis.

  • Resident doctors commence warning strike Monday

    National Association of Resident Doctors of NigerNARD) will on Monday embark on a three-day warning strike to press home their demand for the implementation of the payment of their outstanding salaries and allowances.

    The President of NARD, Dr. Jibril Abdullahi who spoke to reporters about the strike at NARD secretariat in Mallam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano on Sunday said that the Minister of Health, Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu should be held responsible for his non-commitment to the plight and demand of the Resident Doctors in the country.
    According to him, the grouse of the Resident Doctors include the issues of relativity in salary between Doctors and other health workers as well as skipping of grade level 12.
    The Resident Doctors further argued that there was need for the Federal Ministry of Health to adopt world standard and best practices in terms of salary structure, pointing out that there is nowhere in the world where Doctor’s salary are at par with that of other health workers.

    Dr. Abdullahi also announced that the resumption date for the three-day warning strike will be on Thursday, June 5, while noting that NARD being aware of nagging security situation in the country may give peculiarities to emergency services for the sake of common Nigerians.

    He further warned that if the Federal Government fails to implement their demands, the Resident Doctors will not hesitate to embark on an indefinite strike action from July 1, 2014.

    Among the demands of NARD include full payment of salaries of their members in Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, “we are dismayed by the fact that the payment was only for September salaries of Resident Doctors and one month rather than two for the out gone House Officers.

    “Similarly, the current batches of House Officers in the same institution were just paid two months’ salary rather than three months as was done to the interns of other professions that came in together with them. Moreover, no explanation was given for this aberration. In a nutshell, two out of three months’ payment was made and another one month withheld,” Dr. Abdullahi stated.

    He further added that the Federal Ministry of Health under the watch of Dr. Onyebuchi has shown lack of commitment towards the resolution of the current impasse, pointing out that, “after exhaustive deliberations with Local Chapter Presidents and other stakeholders, NARD hereby rejects what the Government offers regarding these issues.”

  • SSANU-LASU joins ASUU’s strike

    SSANU-LASU joins ASUU’s strike

    •’No work No Pay,’ says govt

    Six days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos State University (LASU) chapter declared an indefinite strike, their non-teaching counterpart, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has followed suit.

    Like ASUU, SSANU, which started their indefinite strike last Monday, are protesting the ‘No vacancy, no Promotion’ policy of the university; the hike in school fees that has resulted in a sharp drop in enrolment, and the non-implementation of the 65-year retirement age for non-teaching staff.

    SSANU’s action followed a resolution by the union’s congress last Friday. On Monday, SSANU members also held another congress after which it staged a peaceful protest around the university’s Ojo campus, calling on the management to compel the Lagos State government walk its talk with respect to its agreement with the union in 2010.

    Incidentally, the union’s strike is starting at a time the government has threatened to invoke the ‘no work, no pay’ rule.

    SSANU-LASU chairman, Comrade Oseni Adewale Saheed, however waved the threat.  He said the union had faced more punitive sanctions in the past and is not afraid to maintain its stand.

    “There was a time we went on strike for six months in this university while our salaries were withheld; but we did not die.  This strike will be total! No member of ours will be allowed to work in any office. If the management wants to stop our salary, let them go ahead.

    “No meeting by management should hold in any office manned by our members otherwise we shall disrupt it,” he said.

    On January 13, SSANU suspended its three month-old strike following the intervention of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga.

    He said: “We had a meeting with the committee set up by the state government to look into the matter and resolve it.  But to date this has not been done. Our management also held a meeting with SSANU national executive where it was resolved that all affected staff that were due for promotion should be promoted in accordance with (Governing) Council directive that worker that scored 65 per cent in their Annual Performance and Evaluation Report  (APER), but that has not been done.”

    At the declaration of the ASUU strike on Tuesday last week, its Chairman Dr Adekunle Idris said the union had explored all avenues to get government to implement the agreement to no avail.

    He said when the hike in tuition was introduced in 2011, ASUU decided to study the outcome of the policy, which according to him, has resulted in dwindling enrolment every year.

    Rather than raise tuition fees, ASUU said management should have leveraged on its consultancy services, which he said has not operated for the past two years, to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    Following government’s cold shoulder, Idris said the union approached parents, traditional rulers and other stakeholders in Lagos to prevail on the government to accede to their demands.

    Following the breakdown of talks, ASUU declared a trade dispute on March 24 with 21-day ultimatum, and another 14-day ultimatum which expired on April 29.  All through the ultimatums, Idris noted that neither the government nor the Governing Council responded to letters written to them.

    “We are at a loss as to why the authorities have refused to frontally address these issues for over one year. Of course, rather than dialogue and take steps to reverse the unacceptable trend, the university authority has engaged the use of propaganda, divisive tactics and twisted logic to justify a very bad case,” he said.

  • No pay for striking LASU lecturers

    No pay for striking LASU lecturers

    Lagos State Government has decided to apply the ‘No Work No-Pay’ rule for members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Lagos State University (LASU) chapter who have resolved to embark on indefinite strike.

    The government in a statement said the decision was to make the union understand that the issues it raised and reasons for the strike did not qualify for such action.

    The government through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, said the pay rule which was approved by the Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), would be strictly applied.

    The striking workers the Government said will in addition to losing their salaries not have, their check-off dues deducted while they stand the risk of suffering other disciplinary measures.

    The Government, however, assured members of the union who wish to continue working of adequate protection against any form of harassment, advising such workers to feel free to report on Monday for duty at the university where a register would be opened for them.

  • Polytechnic workers suspend seven months strike

    Polytechnic workers suspend seven months strike

    The Nasarawa State Polytechnic chapter of Non Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (NASUP), on Wednesday suspended its seven months-old-strike.

    The Chairman of the union, Mr David Ayitono-Goshi announced the suspension in Lafia while briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting they had with the management of the polytechnic.

    Ayitono-Goshi said that the suspension followed the intervention of respected personalities who pledged to pursue the union’s grievances to the appropriate authorities.

    “We have been on strike for seven months now, but when the new members of the governing council came on board, they requested that we should appeal to the national headquarters of the union to suspend the strike.

    “They also assured that they will continue with the negotiation from where it stopped,” he said.

    The chairman said that the suspension was “conditional”, as the union would resume its strike if the state government fails to address the issues within six months.

    He directed all members of the union to resume work immediately.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that already some members of the members have complied with the directive, as they were seen in their places of work. (NAN)

  • Resident doctors urged to end strike

    Resident doctors urged to end strike

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Peter Alabi, has appealed to resident doctors in the hospital to call off the strike they embarked upon two weeks ago.

    While speaking with journalists, the CMD explained that although government approved the new salary structure, the hospital was awaiting financial backing from the government in order to pay the aggrieved doctors.

    Alabi said that the new salary scheme was not captured in the 2014 budget and so the government was looking for a means of ‘cash-backing’ it.

    “Government has not released the money for the new salary scheme; the strike is uncalled for. So, I ask the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to call it off. NARD could confirm this from the Budget Office, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.

    “You have an approval from the government, but this has not been cash-backed. Some hospitals went on this same strike, but when it became obvious that the money was nowhere and no CMD was empowered to pay the money, they all ended the strike,” he said.

    He expressed dismay that, in spite of this explanation, UATH resident doctors remained adamant and were yet to call off the strike, which has entered its third week.

    “The strike, which is supposed to be a national action has, however, been localised and local action, will not help the situation,’’ he said.

    Recall that the National Association of Resident Doctors embarked on an indefinite nation-wide strike on April 18, to press home their demand that government should implement a new salary structure which it approved for them but was yet to pay them.