BY LAJU ARENYEKA

The Academic Staff Union of Poly-technics, ASUP, has now been on strike for a total of 352 days. Several mitigating factors have contributed to this, but the most contentious is the payment of workers’ salary arrears on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure, CONTISS, 15 to the tune of N40bn.

Minister of State for Eduction, Barrister Esenwo Nyesom Wike

Recall that during a meeting with the chairmen of Governing Councils of federal polytechnics in March, the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said government was committed to paying CONTISS 15 in two installments in March and November 2014.

“At our exhaustive meeting with ASUP,’ Wike said, “we agreed on two installmental payments of the CONTISS 15. We have since raised a memo to the President to this effect. I took the risk of committing government because we are deeply worried over the prolonged strike. Thereafter, ASUP wrote to inform us that they have rejected this offer. Please, as chairmen of Polytechnic Governing Councils, we ask that you communicate our commitment to adhering to the schedule of payment. All the processes are on and we are committed to resolving the strike action.”

That was three months ago. Wike’s spokesperson, Simeon Nwakaudu told Vanguard Learning earlier this week: “The only issue left is the payment of the CONTISS 15 arrears and ASUP is mostly to blame for that. ASUP missed the opportunity in January when government said that it would pay the money in two installments. I think the ASUP president should take responsibility and be bold enough to accept the fact that he made an error. He wrote to the government saying that ASUP would only accept one installment. Then, by the time ASUP changed its mind and agreed to pay in installments, the budget had already been passed, and it was not included in the budget.”

The ASUP Chairman, Dr. Chibuzor Asomugha, however, told Vanguard Learning that the union did not at any time refuse the Government’s offer to pay the money in two installments. “ASUP never refused it,” he said, “we never rejected it at any point; we had our own options for installments, and the Government had its own.  We proposed that the first installment be made in February, and the second in May. Government wanted to pay in March and September, and later said it would pay in March and November. In March, at the meeting, we agreed that the payments will be made in April and July. We had that meeting with Wogu on the directive of the President, but up until now, not a kobo has been paid.”

Asomugha argued that the Minister is simply “just trying to buy time with this argument. The money is not in the budget. If they have the money, they would not even ask about installments, they will just pay what they have. It doesn’t even make any sense. We have been owed since 2009; even if they were going to pay it in 10 installments, wouldn’t it have been included in the budget? The argument that it was not included in the budget because of difference over installments does not hold water at all.”

Other issues
When ASUP first embarked on the strike on April 29, it tried to press home a 13-point agenda based on the union’s agreement with the Federal Government in 2009, ASUP suspended the strike in July 2013 as a result of Government’s promise to fulfill four of the 13 issues in the contentious 2009 agreement between both parties.

These four issues include release of the White paper on Visitation to Federal Polytechnics, the completion of the constitution of the governing councils for federal polytechnics, the migration of the lower cadre on CONTISS 15 salary scale, and the commencement of the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Polytechnics. Three of these, apart from the CONTISS were settled after the union resumed its strike in September. A committee has also been set up to look into the issue of dichotomy between university and polytechnic graduates in job placements and career progression.

Nwakaudu told Vanguard Learning that 90 per cent of ASUP’s demands have been met. He said: “Concerning the other issues, they are extraneous. They are issues that will require a long process because they involve different sectors of government. The essence of negotiation in unionism is that you should be willing to make compromises; that is why, about seven polytechnics have pulled out of the strike.”

These other, less popular issues first postulated by ASUP include: the worrisome state of state-owned polytechnics in the country; the continued appointment of unqualified persons as Rectors and Provosts of Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Technologies by some state governments; refusal of most state governments to implement the approved salary packages (CONPCASS) for their Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Technologies and the 65-year retirement age in some state polytechnics; among others.

Wike’s absence at Senate intervention meeting
Recall that the Supervising Minister of Education last week was absent at a meeting scheduled to hold with delegates of the Senate Committee on Education, ASUP, and it’s striking counterpart, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union. Wike’s spokesperson, Simeon Nwakaudu told Vanguard Learning that Wike “wrote officially to the Senate about a week before the meeting with the Senate; we were even surprised that the meeting held. He took permission because he was in a policy meeting with JAMB, vice-chancellors of universities, and rectors of polytechnics to place cut off marks for admission into tertiary institutions.”

The ASUP boss, however, contradicted this saying that “there were two meetings with the Senate that he missed. The first time, we were told that he had taken permission not to be around, but the second one which held last week, the Senate told us that he did not have the courtesy to take permission.”

Asomugha also spoke on the issue of some chapters pulling out of the protracted strike. “Which Polytechnics are pulling out?” he asked our reporter, “Oko Poly for example is not pulling out. The management decided to call students back to school. It is the prerogative of management to decide whether to send students home or to ask them to come back to school. That was never ASUP’s call. ASUP decided not to give our services, and at Oko Poly, we are still not giving our services. Of course, there are a few ASUP chapters that have pulled out of the strike because of external pressure, but Oko Poly is not one of them.”