Cross River teachers begin five-day warning strike

ASUP gives Nasarawa govt 14-day notice
Teachers in public primary and secondary schools in Cross River State yesterday began a five-day warning strike to protest alleged government’s insensitivity to their demands.

A statement signed by the state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teacher (NUT), Eyo-Nsa Itam; Secretary, Dr. R. Anyadike and Publicity Secretary, Etim Etim, stated that “all members of the state wing executive council of the union in the state unanimously agreed that all teachers should stay at home from Thursday, June 28, 2018 if all demands are not met on or before Wednesday, June 27, 2018.”

With this development, all academic activities, including the ongoing Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3 examination and the state’s First School Leaving Certificate examination scheduled for June 30 have been put on hold as the teachers alleged government’s insensitivity to their demands.

All government schools in Calabar municipality, including Government Secondary School, Akim; Government Primary School, Ekorinim; State Housing Secondary School, West African Peoples’ Institute (WAPI), Government Technical School, Mayne-Avenue and few others visited, remained closed as most of the students were seen loitering outside the school premises while some were playing football in public places.

The statement said: “Government’s inaction over her promises of November 3, 2016 and the agreement it freely entered with the NUT on February 15, 2018 clearly show that the Cross River State Government has abandoned the teachers of the state to their fate.

“The government of Cross River State has up to Wednesday, June 27, 2018 to meet all the demands. That is after Wednesday, June 27, 2018, if all the demands are not met, then teachers in public schools in Cross River State should sit at home until government implements all it had promised and agreed with the NUT. Teachers can only resume if all these demands are met, which include payment of arrears of salaries owed some primary school teachers erroneously dropped from the payroll since 2016; release of promotion letters to primary school teachers as is done to other workers in the state; complete implementation of promotion to all secondary school teachers; and the implementation of yearly salary incremental steps to primary school teachers from January, 2016, among others.”

In a related vein, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Lafia Chapter, has given the state government a 14-day strike notice.

According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), ASUP Chairman of the polytechnic, Mr. Paul Usaini, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Lafia yesterday, said the ultimatum followed the expiration of the 21-day notice earlier given to the government in line with labour laws.

He said the grievances of the union include lack of accreditation of all courses at the polytechnic, implementation of four years promotion and yearly increment.

Usaini also listed lack of payment of pension and gratuity to retired members of staff and lack of office accommodation to academic members of staff, among others, as other grievances of the union.