Colleges of Education Academic Staff Extends Strike by 3 Weeks

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has decided to continue its current strike for another three weeks.

The decision was made at the conclusion of the union National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, at the Federal College of Education (FCE) Kano, Kano State.

Dr. Smart Olugbeko, National President of COEASU, announced the decision in a communique, blaming it on the failure of the Federal Government to embrace its preference for the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) payment platform and the failure of state governments to address issues unique to state-owned Colleges of Education (CoEs).

"Most state governments have yet to address locally distinctive concerns to state-owned Colleges of Education, particularly in Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Abia, Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Edo and Ebonyi states," he said. In fact, the situation in several of these states has deteriorated further with the implementation of the harsh rule of "no work, no pay" and the victimisation of Union leaders.

"The FG has yet to state unequivocally that the Union prefers UTAS over the difficult Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System."

"After submitting the Union's charter of demands to the FG team for renegotiation, the government's posture and sincerity toward real collective bargaining cannot be determined until August 2, 2022, when the renegotiation process begins."

"While empathetically accepting the request of essential stakeholders expecting the strike action to be postponed, the NEC meticulously submitted that the timing must be correctly determined based on the foregoing reservations in order to capitalise on the accomplishments of the struggle," the union added.

"As a result, the NEC unanimously determined that the strike action should continue for the next three weeks, during which the Union hopes that the aforementioned objections will be addressed."

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This post is authored by Olusegun Fapohunda, the founder and editor of MySchoolGist.

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