The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) may begin an indefinite strike from July 22, 2024, as it has issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Federal Government over an unfavourable scheme of service.
 
The President of the union, Shammah Kpanja, who disclosed this in Abuja on Friday at the end of the National Executive Council meeting of the union, said the new scheme of service released by the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) runs contrary to the extant laws that establish the polytechnic system.
 
Kpanja said the union resolved to issue the ultimatum that begins next Monday, July 8, 2024, to the Federal Government to withdraw the offensive scheme or face unending industrial action.
 
“At the expiration of the 15-day ultimatum, the union’s NEC will reconvene to decide a specific and legitimate course of action to address the issue. Zones and chapters of the union are to prepare members for necessary action within the 15 days ultimatum through congresses, peaceful protests and media campaigns on the issue,” he stated.
 
ASUP maintained that amending some provisions and seeking approval for amendment of other aspects of the scheme amounts to an admission of guilt and a half-hearted attempt at lifting the mourning mood in the sector imposed by the release of the contentious scheme of service.

ASUP said the proliferation of directorates with unsustainable financial implications on the overhead of the institutions was troubling.
 
On alleged stifling of career progression in the polytechnic sub-sector, ASUP President said: “The contentious document curiously, unjustifiably and unacceptably elongates the career progression steps of the lecturer cadre from a seven step to a nine step career development cadre and at the same time added extra year for promotion to the final two levels. This implies that anyone on the lecturer cadre will now endure a minimum of 26 tortuous years from the base to the highest level. This is not acceptable, particularly because this deviates from the norm in other subsectors and that the retirement age in the sector remains unchanged.”
 
He also added that the career progression guide in the sector particularly as it affects the teaching and non-teaching staff cadres is a recipe for crises as it is not reflective of the remuneration accruing to the cadres.
 
Kpanja further explained that several provisions in the controversial document eroded the gains made in the battle of the union against retrogressive practices.
 
“We affirm that polytechnics cannot discriminate against its products in the manner prescribed in this document. This is evident in the provision of discriminatory entry points into the lecturer cadre for degree holders and HND holders; lowering of the career progression bar of holders of HND both in the teaching and non-teaching cadres; discrimination against holders of HND in the appointment of Registrars and Bursars irrespective of their possession of higher level certificates; classification of technologists as non-teaching staff etc.,” he added.
 
While faulting the new scheme of service, ASUP maintained that it contains significant and fundamental deviations from the document prepared by stakeholders in the sector and coordinated through a series of consultative engagements by the NBTE for over six years.
 
The union also faulted the role assigned to the Head of Service of the Federation in the new scheme of service.
  
“The document’s approval route which gave rise to the significant and contentious alterations is legally questionable as the role of the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSoF) as an approving authority is challengeable.
 
“This assertion is underlined by the provisions of Section 3 (1) of the Federal Polytechnics Act amended in 2019 where Governing Councils are established for each polytechnic as Body Corporates with perpetual succession and common seal. The status of these polytechnics is settled in law by rulings of the National Industrial Court. The Governing Councils are the employers of staff in the polytechnics and the Federal Executive Council has also underlined same in its recent letter of December 18, 2023, CM1/5.II/1/304 where OHSCoF was excluded from any role in the employment of staff in tertiary institutions,” he noted.
 

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