The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has announced plans to embark on industrial action if the government fails to suspend the new Scheme of Service for Polytechnics in Nigeria, which took effect on June 7.
This decision was made clear by the Auchi Polytechnic chapter of ASUP during an emergency congress held on Friday.
Speaking to journalists, Comrade Bamidele Osamudiamen, Chairman of ASUP at Auchi Polytechnic, described the new scheme as a “dead end” to the growth and development of polytechnic education. “Starting Monday, we will kick-start the process with a protest on the new scheme, followed by a strike,” Osamudiamen stated.
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Osamudiamen emphasized that the new scheme hampers the career progression of lecturers within the polytechnic system and negates recent gains made in the sector. According to him, the scheme exacerbates the existing HND-BSc dichotomy and fosters discriminatory practices favoring university degree holders over HND holders.
“The unfair career progression guide in the sector, particularly as it affects the teaching and non-teaching staff cadres, is a recipe for crises; as such, it is not reflective of the remuneration accruing to the cadres,” he said. Osamudiamen criticized the scheme for elongating the career progression steps of the lecturer cadre from a 7-step to a 9-step process, adding an extra year for promotion to the final two levels.
“This implies that anyone on the lecturer cadre will now endure a minimum of 26 years from the base to the highest level. This is not acceptable, particularly in view of the fact that this deviates from the norm in other sub-sectors and that the retirement age in the sector remains unchanged.”
Dr. Salisu Umar, the Rector of Auchi Polytechnic, supported the lecturers’ protest against the new scheme and praised the national body of polytechnics for their stance on the issue. He warned that the scheme could severely harm polytechnic education in the country if not suspended.
“My challenge in all of this is the way the polytechnic is being downgraded and relegated to the background. For instance, it takes a maximum of 18 years for a university lecturer to become a professor; but in the polytechnic, it takes a minimum of 18 years to become a chief lecturer. The polytechnic lecturers are being made to play third fiddle, not even second fiddle,” Umar explained. He added, “I want to say that the new scheme of service is faulty and fraught with lots of irregularities and should be thrown away.”
Umar noted that the body of polytechnic rectors initially believed the scheme to be beneficial until they examined its provisions more closely. “We had thought the scheme was a good one until we took a critical look at the provisions,” he said. Nonetheless, he urged ASUP to maintain a peaceful approach in their protests for the suspension of the new scheme of service.
