COEASU URGES FG TO FULFILL PROMISES OR FACE INDUSTRIAL ACTION
The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has given the Federal Government two weeks ultimatum to fulfill its promise or face industrial action.
The Northwest Zonal Vice President of the union, Mr Muhammad Shehu Jabaka made the call while addressing journalists in Gusau on Monday.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to do the needful to end strike actions as a result of non-implementation of the various agreements reached with staff unions in tertiary institutions.
“The Federal Government had failed to address some burning issues that have lingered for several years.
“Some of the issues were the Federal Government’s refusal to address issues concerning Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS)’’, Jabaka said.
According to him, the IPPIS is causing more havoc to tertiary institutions than good”.
He decried government’s refusal to heed to the unions demand for the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative innovation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
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“The Dilly-Dallying Posture of the Federal Government to renegotiate COEASU-FGN 2010 Agreement while the long-anticipated renegotiation of COEASU-FGN 2010 agreement holds enormous promise for mutual resolution of several challenges bedeviling the COE system.
“Government refused to constitute her own renegotiation team after acknowledging receipt of the unions’ team list, on her own request, for over two months now,’’ he said.
Jabaka said that poor funding of Colleges of Education and poor conditions across the state-owned Colleges of Education is a another major setback which the union wanted to be addressed.
“In spite of the union’s agitations and government’s persistent promise of redress, both the federal and state Colleges of Education remain poorly funded.
“State Colleges of Education continues to suffer untold hardships through nonpayment of salary and salary arrears.
“ The refusal to implement the statutory salary structure in full, extraneous promotion criteria, idiosyncratic policies, non/improper domestication of 65-year retirement age for workers in the COE system is also an untold hardship’’, he added.
The vice president of the union said that multiple promotions without financial effects and repression of union activities were also parts of the demands to mention just a few’.
“Many Colleges find it difficult to run smoothly due to non-release of running cost by government.
“Many state governments have abdicated their responsibility as proprietors to TETFund, as the only projects found in the Colleges are TETFund projects,’’ he said.
