The National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has resolved to continue its nine months old strike pending the outcome of its meeting with the Senate Committee on Education on
July 1.
The President of the union, Mr. Chibuzor Asumogha, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria at the end of ASUPs 77th National Executive Council meeting in Lagos.
He said a meeting of the committee and some education stakeholders scheduled for June 24 did not hold because no government official honoured the invitation.
"That meeting was supposed to be held, resolution reached and agreement signed.
"It was against the backdrop that we fixed the NEC meeting so that if we have the resolutions, we will come here and suspend the strike. Incidentally, none of the government official came for the meeting and because of that, the meeting did not hold," he said.
The official said the committee deferred the meeting to July 1.
Asumogha said the union resolved to continue the strike until the parties would be able to arrive at a mutual understanding.
"This is the position of the NEC; we are meeting again next Tuesday.
"We have been compromising since 2013. We have continued to agree to suspend the strike but at each point, government always breached the agreement," he said.
He appealed to the parents and students to continue to be patient and support the union to achieve its goals.
Asumogha said, "The thing we are saying is that government should be committed. When is it going to offset the arrears of the salary scale CONTISS 15 it is owing since 2009?''
ASUP embarked on an indefinite strike in October, 2013 to press home its demand for improvement in the condition of service and infrastructure in government-owned polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of technology.