The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has threatened to mobilise its members for industrial action if the Federal Government fails to address the welfare issues of its members within 21 days.

The association accused the Federal Ministry of Education of failing to convene a meeting to resolve the issues in dispute.

There are 110 unity schools across the country under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education.

Handing down the ultimatum in a letter sent to the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja on the 23rd January 2025, ASCSN Secretary-General, Joshua Apebo, regretted that all efforts since 2023 to bring the management of the Federal Ministry of Education to the negotiation table to discuss welfare matters affecting its members in the 110 unity schools and the Federal Education Quality Assurance Service (FEQAS) throughout the country have been treated with contempt.

According to the union, the outstanding welfare issues include payment of promotion, salary, and elongation arrears; payment of allowance to education officers displaced from the unity schools in the North-East, payment of first 28 days instead of hotel accommodation as stipulated in the Public Service Rules.

Other demands include the disarticulation of junior secondary schools from the senior secondary schools to create vacancies at the directorate level, payment of transport allowance and DTA to FEQAS staff and the need to reduce exorbitant medical fees charged members of staff by the Health Management Organisation (HMO) appointed by the Federal Ministry of Education under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The letter read in part: “There are also issues of regularisation of appointment of PTA teachers, implementation of the White Paper which stipulates that units of the association in the 110 federal unity schools should be members of the School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) so that they could be part of the decision-making processes in the Schools, scholarship for children of education officers in colleges where their parents teach in line with the directive of former President, Muhammadu Buhari.

“We have also consistently demanded the resumption of quarterly meetings with the union where welfare issues affecting members of the association in the headquarters of the ministry, those in the 110 federal government colleges and those in FEQAS throughout the country can be discussed and resolved in the interest of industrial peace and harmony but all our gestures for dialogue have been rebuffed,” Apebo regretted.”

The union said since all efforts to bring the Federal Ministry of Education to the dialogue table had been frustrated and the national leadership of the association could no longer contain the restiveness of its members in the unity colleges and FEQAS, no further notice would be required after the expiration of the 21 days ultimatum issued on Thursday 23rd January 2025 before trade union actions start in the unity schools and FEQAS.

It, therefore, urged all stakeholders to prevail on the Federal Ministry of Education to embrace dialogue before the action begins.