Why industrial action by Plateau tertiary institutions persists

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos.    The labour dispute between the Joint Unions of Plateau Tertiary Institutions (JUPTI) and Plateau State government has remained unresolved after over two months since the union went on strike.  As a result of the dispute, all the seven institutions involved in the strike remain closed. They are, Plateau State […]

From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos. 

 

The labour dispute between the Joint Unions of Plateau Tertiary Institutions (JUPTI) and Plateau State government has remained unresolved after over two months since the union went on strike. 

As a result of the dispute, all the seven institutions involved in the strike remain closed. They are, Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi, College of Health Technology, Zawan, College of Health Technology, Pankshin, College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies, Kurgwi, College of Agriculture, Mikang, and College of Education, Gindiri and College of Agriculture, Garkawa. 

Comrade Innocent Simji, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) told our correspondent in Jos that government has remained unperturbed over the issue. 

Comrade Simji said, “It has been two months and three weeks since we downed tool, but as we speak, there is no any indication that the strike will end soon. This is because government is not serious over our point of dispute; they are not showing enough concern to address the problems. 

 “We have held about 10 meetings with the state government, but it has not shown any political will to resolve the issues. It therefore means that the strike will have to continue indefinitely as we earlier declared. 

“To be specific, we’ve had meetings with the deputy governor over the strike, we have held meetings with secretary to government of the state), we have held meetings with the head of civil service on the same issue, yet, government seemed not ready to make any commitment towards resolving the dispute” 

Benue/Plateau Trust found out that the grievances of the striking lecturers have been pending since 2018 when government entered into an agreement with staff unions of its tertiary institutions. 

“The agreement was meant for the state government to resolve the non-consolidation of our salaries, to resolve the fraud involving deductions in respect of Plateau State Health Insurance Scheme.  

“Government kept deducting our money for eight months and never enrolled us to benefit from the scheme. They were also to resolve the failure of government to remit money deducted from our salaries into our cooperative account for good five months”.  

The aspect of the industrial dispute that angered the lecturers most was the rumours that the state government misappropriated funds meant for their cooperative.  

One of the lecturers who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that, “We heard from good sources that government forcefully borrowed money from our cooperative fund without our consent. They succeeded because they were supposed to deduct our cooperative fees and remit it into our cooperative account monthly, but they held on to this money for five months without remitting it. That is why this strike will remain until our cooperative money is remitted to us.” 

Comrade Simji added: “The implication of failure of government to remit our cooperative money is that our account is now in red. Government is withholding our money; it’s like they are holding us to ransom, because we are supposed to be rendering financial assistance to our members using the cooperative money and our members are angry,” he said. 

Our correspondent reports that with no hope to resolve the dispute, most of the lecturers have embarked on dry season farming to make ends meet. Some are said to have relocated to their respective villages to engage in full time farming. 

The Head of Service, Sunday Hyat, has not responded to requests for his comments on the issue. 

Calls to his cell phone were not answered while a message to his Whatsapp remained unanswered too. 

It was learnt that the inability of the state government to resolve the dispute is because government it is broke, as the government is patiently waiting for the proposed N18 billion bailout fund approved by President Buhari to handle the demands of the striking lecturers.