The Federal Government has approved the disbursement of N15 billion as Revitalisation Fund for polytechnics in the country in its bid to get members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, who have been on strike since April 6, this year to go back to their beats.
Also, the government has approved another N4 billion to pay the backlog of the new minimum wage arrears the polytechnic teachers were owed.
However, the lecturers are continuing their industrial action because the government has not paid the monies as promised. This is as members of the union are apprehensive of the whereabouts of their contributory pensions, as reports have it that over N6.3 trillion is missing from the fund.
Disclosing this in Lagos at a special congress by the Yaba College of Technology chapter, the National President of ASUP, Comrade Anderson Ezeibe, said his members would still continue their strike because government’s overtures were still promissory notes. Members, who drew attention of the leadership of the union to some issues, urged the leadership to challenge the claims by the Federal Inland Revenue Service that polytechnics across the country are owing over N20 billion in unpaid taxes.
