The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), has warned the Federal Government to avoid an impending strike across colleges of education in the country. The union urged government to address all agreements as a matter of urgency.
This was contained in a statement sighted by IkejaBird, signed by its National President, Dr Smart Olugbeko.
He said: “The union in its characteristic disposition to peaceful resolution of issues has between August and December 2021 met with the Minister, the Permanent Secretary, Directors, and other officials of the government that have roles in addressing the lingering issues between the Union and the government several times.
“Government has demonstrated total disrespect for our maturity in handling issue and has mistaken our understanding for weakness.
“The union is therefore calling on the Federal Government to quickly commence the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement with the union and release the N15 billion Revitalisation Fund to our Colleges. The union will in the next few weeks call the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting to take necessary actions as permissible by the Trade Union Act if the government fails to do the needful.
“The issues of Renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement, the crises being created by the imposition of IPPIS and the release of the N15 billion Revitalisation Fund are critical to the development of Colleges of Education in Nigeria and the Union has put these among others in the front burner for government to quickly resolve them. As critical as these issues are, the Federal government has been lackadaisical in resolving them.”
