COEASU tasks FG to save children of poor Nigerians

The College of Education Academic Staff Union, (COEASU), NorthWest zone, has called on the Federal Government to take cognisance of the essence of its struggles and save the children of poor Nigerians.

Speaking with newsmen in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, the COEASU vice chairman and North West zonal coordinator, Dr Shehu Jabaka Mohammed, lamented that the lingering discussion between the Federal Government and unions of tertiary institutions had not been fruitful.

“COEASU considers the many lingering issues between the Federal Government and tertiary institutions’ unions unhealthy for a labour /government relationship as a result of inaction on the part of the government to address them,” he said.

The council noted that the lingering impasse between the Federal Government and unions of tertiary education institutions and subsector is harmful for the nation’s educational development.

It called on the Federal Government to consider the essence of the struggles by the unions, which it noted is not only limited to the academia, but the entire national development, and  make room for some flexibilities.

The unions urged the government to do the needful to end the current spate of strikes arising from non-implementation of the various agreements reached with staff unions in tertiary institutions.

COEASU also maintained that the government had refused to heed the union’s demand for the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative innovation for the payment of salaries by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

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It decried the dilly-dallying posture of the government to renegotiation of the COEASU-FGN 2010 Agreement while maintaining that the long-anticipated renegotiation of COEASU-FGN 2010 agreement holds  enormous promise for the mutual resolution of several challenges bedevilling the college of Education system.

The union said the Federal Government had failed to accord the exercise the deserved priority.

“Ridiculously, the Federal Government has refused to constitute its own renegotiation team after acknowledging receipt of the union’s team list, on its own request. For over two months now.

“Poor funding of colleges of education, poor conditions of services across the state-owned colleges of education in spite of the union’s agitations and government’s persistent promise of redress are a cause for concern,” it added.

The aggrieved COEASU which lamented that both the federal and state colleges of education remain poorly funded, stressed also that a reign of impunity, statutory breach and administrative aberration persisted in the entire process.

It added: “The union members, especially in state colleges of education, continue to suffer untold hardships through the non-payment of salary and salary arrears, refusal to implement the statutory salary structure in full, extraneous promotion criteria.

“Other agitations include adoption of idiosyncratic policies, non/improper domestication of 65-year retirement age for workers in the College of Education system, multiple promotions without financial effects, repression of union activities, among others.”

They further revealed that many COE in the country found it difficult to run smoothly due to non-release of running cost by the government, noting that “the state governments have abdicated their responsibility as proprietors to TETFund, as the only projects found in the colleges are TETFund’s projects.”