The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), has appealed to the Federal Government to ensure an upward review of the budgetary provisions for education in the 2024 appropriation bill before the National Assembly.
ASUP President, Mr Anderson Ezeibe, said this at a news conference, ahead of the union’s 17th biennial national delegates conference on Tuesday in Abuja.
He condemned the 7 per cent earmarked for education in the current budget.
According to Ezeibe, the current bill before the National Assembly indicates that 7.8 per cent is provided for the education sector.
“This implies that the country is further away from a solution to the underfunding in the sector.
“An upward review is imperative in order to reflect actual needs for the sector. This will ensure the
total withdrawal of the 2021 circular requesting institutions to make remittances of their internally-generated funds.
“Also, it will ensure the immediate implementation of the approved new wage structure of 35 per cent and 25 per cent for chief lecturers and other categories of staff in the sector with the arrears,” he said.
He also said that the polytechnics in the country were at the verge of being wiped out.
He noted that many young people were no longer interested in attending polytechnics as government had de-marketed the institution.
He said government had continued to maintain a disparity between higher national diploma (HND) offered by polytechnics and bachelors degrees offered by universities.
The ASUP president also said that there was confusion in the polytechnic system as many have been operating without the full complement of their governance structures since June 2023.
He noted that unqualified and incompetent persons were being appointed to run some of the institutions.
“Some of these polytechnics are actually in confused state as processes for the appointment of principal officers have been disrupted.
“Staff appraisal processes cannot be concluded, staff disciplinary processes cannot be concluded and other statutory duties of the governing councils cannot be executed.
“We also have the continued retention of persons described as unfit and unqualified to be appointed rectors in five new federal polytechnics in Monguno, Shendam, Wannune, Ugep and Ohodo.
“This can only be interpreted from the perspective of the government deliberately undermining proper administration of the affected polytechnics,” he said.
He said that the disregard for extant laws in the appointment of principal officers in these polytechnics by the federal government had emboldened different state governments to tow the same path.
He also noted that several state governments were also in the business of violating their own laws in principal officers’ appointment processes.
Ezeibe called for the immediate reconstitution of all dissolved governing councils of polytechnics in accordance with extant rules.
He called for the removal of the five unfit and unqualified persons currently pretending to be rectors of the new federal polytechnics in the country
Ezeibe called for the stoppage of the appointment of unqualified persons as principal officers in polytechnics in Nigeria;.
He also called for the immediate release of the scheme of service for polytechnics and the faithful implementation of the approved roadmap for the education sector particularly.
According to Ezeibe, a national commission for polytechnics should be set up and polytechnics granted degree-awarding status.
He also called for the release of owed promotion arrears; the unconditional release of the eight months owed salaries of university staff in the country..
Ezeibe urged the federal government to return to the table to enable a proper renegotiation of the ASUP/FGN 2010 agreement, amongst others.
“While we expect the government to work assiduously towards a revamp of the education sector, we expect that the issues highlighted in this document should be given requisite attention.
“These are key items undermining the functionality of the education sector in general and polytechnic education in particular.” Ezeibe said. (NAN)
