Public polytechnics across Nigeria may soon be thrown into another round of industrial unrest as the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has issued the Federal Government a 21-day deadline to address lingering issues affecting the sector or face a possible shutdown of academic activities.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Thursday after an emergency meeting of the union’s leadership, ASUP President, Comrade Shammah Kpanja, accused the government of insincerity and reneging on commitments to address key issues affecting staff welfare, accreditation processes, and other unresolved matters.
Kpanja expressed strong opposition to the continued decision by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to outsource the accreditation of polytechnics to private companies, despite earlier assurances to halt the practice. He alleged that many of the firms contracted lacked the competence for such tasks, with some registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) under unrelated sectors such as farming, business consultancy, or medical services.
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The union also accused the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) of failing to release the circular for payment of the Peculiar Academic Allowance, a key provision in the ASUP/FGN 2010 agreement and lamented its removal from the national budgeting template.
On discrimination against Higher National Diploma (HND) holders, Kpanja faulted the Federal Government for stalling the approval of a dual mandate structure designed to end the disparity between HND and degree qualifications. He said this inaction was perpetuating long-standing bias against polytechnic graduates.
Other grievances listed by the union include the non-payment of 25/35 per cent arrears from the 2023 salary review, the delayed release of the second tranche of the NEEDS Assessment intervention, non-payment of promotion arrears in several state-owned polytechnics, some dating back to 2019 and the unresolved CONTISS 15 arrears which have lingered since 2014.
ASUP also criticised the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) for what it described as a “non-committal disposition” to genuine dialogue and for failing to act on resolutions from previous negotiations.
“The continued delay and non-approval of a dual mandate structure has facilitated discrimination against polytechnic education and its products,” Kpanja warned. “If our demands are not addressed within 21 days, the union may have no choice but to declare a trade dispute and withdraw the services of our members across public polytechnics and monotechnics nationwide.”
With the ultimatum counting down, stakeholders fear another disruption to academic activities in the nation’s technical education sector if a resolution is not reached.
