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.