College Of Education Lecturers Extend Strike By 3 Weeks

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has announced that it will be extending its strike by three weeks.

The Union had embarked on a one-month strike on Tuesday, 14th June 2022, but has now blamed the extension on the state government’s inaction with regards to satisfying their demands.

This was announced in a communique signed by the union’s National President, Dr Smart Olugbeko and General Secretary Dr. Ahmed Lawan, at the end of its National Executive Council meeting.

“While empathetically acknowledging the appeal of critical stakeholders expecting the strike action to be suspended, the NEC painstakingly submitted that the timing must be properly calculated based on the foregoing reservations in order to consolidate on the gains of the struggle. Therefore, NEC unanimously resolved that the strike action should continue for the next three weeks within which the Union hopes that the foregoing reservations should have been addressed”, the communique read.

The union also kicked against the Federal Government’s refusal to accept the Union’s preference for the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) over the government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System(IPPIS).

The communique read in part, “Most state governments are yet to address issues locally peculiar to state-owned colleges of education, especially in Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Abia, Kogi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Edo, and Ebonyi states. In fact, the situation has further deteriorated in some of these states with the enforcement of the draconian rule of “no work, no pay” and victimisation of Union leaders.

“The FG is yet to come out clear on the Union’s preference for UTAS against the troublesome Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

“Having submitted the Union’s charter of demands to the FG team for the renegotiation, the posture and sincerity of government towards meaningful collective bargaining cannot be ascertained until August 2, 2022, when the renegotiation proper begins.”