FG meeting with ASUP ends in deadlock.

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.