The lecturers have also called on the Federal Government to take urgent steps to renegotiate the 2010 agreement reached with the union to forestall industrial dispute.
These were some of the resolutions reached at the end of the Expanded National Executive Council (ENEC) meeting of the union held at the Akwa Ibom State College of Education, Afaha-Nsit, as contained in a communiqué jointly signed by its national president, Mr Nuhu Ogirima, and general secretary, Taiwo Olayanju.
The union particularly condemned Abia and Edo state governments for owing over seven months of salary arrears to the lecturers of the College of Education, Arochukwu, and Colleges of Education, Ekiadolor and Igueben, Edo State respectively.
COEASU also described as exploitative and unacceptable the failure to implement the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPCASS) for staff of the College of Education, Arochukwu, by the Abia State government.
“The highly inexcusable salary indebtedness of states, topmost of which is Osun State, with 36 months of ridiculous fractional salaries; Oyo (12 months), Ogun (11 months), Benue (seven months and portions of four months), Kogi (four months and portions of four months fractional salary) and colleges of education Ekiadolor and Igueben, Edo State; and College of Education, Arochukwu, Abia State, with seven months of arrears of salary,” the communiqué said.
The lecturers warned that the union could resort to any radical constitutional means to address the issues should the respective governments fail to act, with dispatch, to resolve the issues in the interest of industrial peace.
COEASU leadership noted with displeasure that while the Federal Government is renegotiating agreements with unions of other tertiary institutions, that of the FGN-COEASU reached in 2010 has remained provocatively discouraging as the process has been stalled.
The communique also decried the non-approval of a pension scheme for the College of Education, Akwanga, by the Nasarawa State government, describing it as “insensitivity to the rights and welfare of people who give their all for the training of other citizens for the good of the nation.”
“ENEC expresses strong reservations on the continued denial of the rights of academic staff to appropriate and accruable full salary by the government of Edo, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun, and Osun states in their respective colleges of education,” it said.
On alleged injustice in dispute resolution in some colleges, the council noted that it received reports of intolerance and injustices perpetuated against members and union leaders while handling issues of industrial concern in colleges of education such as Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, and the Federal College of Education, Potiskum, Yobe State.
“Worst still, some of the states, especially Kogi, Ogun, Osun and Oyo, imposed a ban on union activities in defiance of the constitutional rights of staff and international conventions/treaties to which Nigeria is a signatory. Needless to say, such measures are illegal, malevolent and ultra vires, to the extent of the process(s) involved,” it said.
The union also said while it is not averse to measures that may be taken by an appropriate authority to address perceived indiscipline or unprofessional conduct, “an undue reprimand for rightful and meaningfully conducted agitation, like the cases of College of Education, Ilesa, Osun State; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo and Federal College of Education (Technical) Potiskum; the imposition of a ban on the union because of the activities of a few members, as was the case with Tai Solarin COE, Omu-Ijebu; and the imposition of a ban on COEASU in Kogi State Colleges of Education, Ankpa and Kabba, because of the activities a different union in another institution are not only a rape of the statute but also an affront on the rights to collective bargain, and so, quite antithetical to acceptable industrial relations.”
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