COEASU Urges Federal Government To Fulfill Promises

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has handed the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum to fulfil its promises to the institutions or face industrial action.

The Northwest Zonal Vice President of the union, Shehu Jabaka, handed down the threat while speaking to newsmen on Monday in Gusau.

“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 the government’s refusal to heed the union's demand for the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative innovation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

“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 the mutual resolution of several challenges bedevilling the COE system.

“The government refused to constitute her own renegotiation team after acknowledging the receipt of the unions’ team list for over two months now,’’ he said.

Jabaka said that poor funding of colleges of education and poor conditions across state-owned colleges of education were other major setbacks which the union wanted to be addressed.

“In spite of the union’s agitations and government’s persistent promises of redress, both the federal and state colleges of education remained poorly funded.

“State colleges of education continue to suffer untold hardships as a result of the non-payment of salaries 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 the non-release of running costs by the 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.