Minna: COE lecturers begin strike over retirement age, other issues

Academic staff of the Niger State College of Education, Minna have embarked on an indefinite strike over government’s refusal to honour signed agreements.

Among such agreements is the total implementation of the Consolidated Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Academic Salary Structure (CONPCASS).

Dr. Danjuma Beji, Chairman of the institution’s chapter of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COASU), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Minna that only 77.3 per cent of the agreement had been met.

“Part of the agreement, 23.7 percent, has yet to be implemented,” he told NAN.

Beji alleged that the government was still dragging its feet over the 65 years retirement age for academic staff.

“The agreement on retirement age is yet to be gazetted; this is worrisome because it is only Niger that has not gazetted this law. Other states gazetted it long ago.

“Government keeps talking about the issue without a legal framework to back it up. We shall no longer condone such stance,” he said.

The chairman also claimed that government had not employed fresh lecturers “in the past 10 years”.

“There used to be 300 lecturers, but many have left. More than 100 lecturers have left without any replacement,” he said.

He said that many lecturers had moved to better jobs, while some had either retired or died.

Beji said that there were 10,000 students in the institution, and wondered how the few number of lecturers could cope with such huge figure.

The COEASU official also decried the decay in the institution’s infrastructure, regretting that the state government had abandoned its responsibility in that respect.

“Provision of infrastructure in the school has been left for Tertiary Education Trust (TETfund). We cannot continue like this,” he said.

He said that the lecturers were forced to embark on strike after several letters to the state government did not yield any fruits, saying that government even ignored COEASU’s 21-day ultimatum.

Beji vowed that the teachers would not return to the classes “until government does the needful”.

Malam Mohammed Kolo, COASU Secretary, who also spoke with NAN, urged government to be sensitive to the working condition of academic staff in the college.

“There is satisfaction that goes with working with good infrastructure. All we have here are obsolete and dilapidated items that are an eyesore,” he said.