Commission kicks against payment of arrears-ASUP/COEASU strike

The Federal Government on Tuesday alleged that the Salaries, Wages and Income Commission was opposed to the payment of arrears owed striking lecturers of Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyisome Wike made the allegation at a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Education in Abuja.

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) have been on strike for about 10 months.

Wike said “as the ministry made proposal to settle the lecturers’ arrears owed since 2009 in instalments, the commission wrote to kick against the plan.

“Government has been meeting on what to do, but the commission opposes the proposal I made to pay the arrears in installment.”

Wike said the commission was opposed to the proposal claiming that it was not consulted before the 2009 CONTISSS agreement was reached.

According to him, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim has invited those involved to a meeting with a view to resolving the matter.

He listed those invited to include the ministers of Education and Labour, the Head of Service and the Wages Commission.

The minister assured that the Federal Government would soon resolve the ongoing strike, saying it was deploying all means to reach an agreement with the unions.

He said: “We owe this country a great duty. Nobody will be sitting down happily to see our children staying at home.”

On the issue of the white paper on visitation panels to polytechnics, Wike assured that it would soon be released.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Aminu Suleiman (APC-Kano) appealed to the two unions and the government for amicable solution to the issues.

Mr Chibuzo Asumagha, ASUP President expressed satisfaction with the minister’s assurance, saying that his union never rejected the instalment payment.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwahid Omar cautioned the commission on its interference.

“The wages and salaries commission should not come in at this time to stall the arrangement between government and the two unions,” he said.