The Joint Action Committee of the staff unions at the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna State, has issued a two-week ultimatum to the state government to address its demands or risk industrial action.
The unions are demanding, among other things, the implementation of the requisite salary structure for academic and non-academic staff.
They are also seeking the implementation of a 65-year retirement age for non-academic staff in line with the statutory provisions of state and federal polytechnics.
At a press briefing in Zaria on Friday, Usman-Shehu Suleiman, the committee chairman, lamented obsolete equipment and poor infrastructure at the institution.
Mr Suleiman, who is also the branch chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), said staff of NUBA Polytechnic were being paid with the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Scale (CONTISS), which had been outdated since 2012.
He said the union had approached the state government on the need to change CONTISS to the Consolidated Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS).
“ At the last meeting we had with Governor Uba Sani on December 17, 2024, he promised to convert the CONTISS to CONFORCASS on percentage by the first quarter of 2025, and nothing was done in that regard,” he said.
Mr Suleiman said the unions were forced to issue the ultimatum, having explored most of the available avenues without any fruitful results, and the ultimatum would be effective from May 31 to June 13.
“At the expiration of this ultimatum (June 13), if nothing is done, the unions will embark on a one-week warning strike, from June 16 to June 20 and subsequently proceed to an indefinite strike,” he said.
Earlier, Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), NUBA Polytechnic branch, said the union has been agitating for the improvement of salaries since 2009.
“We had many agreements with the state government over the matter, and nothing was done besides just signing the agreement and complaints of paucity of funds.
“The total staff strength of the polytechnic is a little above 900 staff members, and now the government has recruited 500 new staff; it means the financial situation has improved, hence our demands,” he said.
Corroborating, Hamdan Elisha, a lecturer at the school, stated that the take-home pay of some lecturers at the polytechnic was as low as N64,000, describing the situation as dire and obnoxiously saddening.
(NAN)
