FG will pay N20.8bn arrears to poly staff – Wike

The Supervising Minister
for Education, Chief
Nyesom Wike, said the
Federal Government
would pay the N20.8
billion arrears owed to
polytechnic staff as soon
as the procedure for
payment was concluded.

Wike made this known at a meeting with the
Committee of Pro-
Chancellors of Federal
Polytechnics in Abuja on
Tuesday.

He said the Federal Government had met over
80 per cent of the
demands of the Academic
Staff Union of Polytechnics
(ASUP).

According to him, the only thing left to be done is the
release of the white-paper
on the implementation of
their demands.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
ASUP embarked on strike
on Oct. 4 after expressing
its disappointment at the
Federal Government’s
`cold attitude’ to
polytechnic education in
Nigeria.

He said that contrary to insinuations by the union,
the present administration
held the polytechnic staff
in high esteem.

Hence, the setting up of the Needs Assessment to
determine the level of
decay in schools and how
much would be needed by
the Federal Government to
revive the institutions, he
said.

The minister called on the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal
Polytechnics to mediate in
the impasse between the
Federal Government and
ASUP to ensure that
Nigerian students return
to schools.

He, however, urged the committee to work
toward ensuring that the
institutions return to their
original mandate of
producing skilled medium
level manpower to drive
the economy.

Earlier, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Chairman of the
committee of pro-
chancellors, called on the
minister to facilitate the
resolution of the strike by
the ASUP.

He also called on the ministry to work toward
the release of the white
paper of the Visitation
Panels to Federal
Polytechnics and pay
arrears owed to
polytechnic staff.

The meeting was attended by officials of the National
Board for Technical
Education and chairmen of
14 governing councils of
polytechnics. -THE NATION NEWS