The Federal Government has invited the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, for meetings on Wednesday and Thursday this week to find a solution to the ongoing strike by the union. According to notices of meeting sent to the national leadership of ASUP by the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, sighted by our correspondent, the first meeting will be with the Minister of State, Education, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwajuiba, on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the ASUP team will meet with the Labour Minister, Dr Chris Ngige. Commenting on the development, the National President of ASUP, Mr Anderson Ezeibe, expressed the hope that the meetings would be fruitful. “We have been formally invited for meetings by the government teams. Our demands are clear and we hope the meetings would be fruitful.
They have constituted Governing Councils for federal polytechnics and that is okay by us. ” We want things done appropriately and legitimately too. The absence of Governing Councils has made some Rectors to become authoritarian and dictators.
Also, they must resolve the issue of appointing unqualified persons as Rectors. The regulation is clear about who can be appointed a rector “The poor funding and criminal neglect of the polytechnic sector should be redressed. Nigeria cannot do without the products of the polytechincs for our technical and technological needs,” he said. Recall that members of the union have been on strike since last week Tuesday after the ultimatum they gave the government to address some issues and demands lapsed.