ASUP Demands Withdrawal of Circular on IGR, Says Polytechnics Going Extinct

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) yesterday lamented the dwindling fortunes of Polytechnics in Nigeria as a result of unfavourable policies of government.

In view of the funding challenges confronting tertiary institutions, the union demanded the  total withdrawal of the 2021 circular requesting institutions to make remittances of their internally generated funds.

ASUP also urged government to immediately implement  the approved new wage structure of 35 per cent and 25 per cent for chief lecturers and other categories of staff in the sector with the arrears.

Addressing journalists ahead of the union’s national delegates conference holding today in Abuja, ASUP president, Mr. Anderson Ezeibe said that polytechnic institutions in Nigeria were fast losing their students population due to the neglect and negative policy measures of government. He said that the current ratio of students to staff is almost one student to a staff.

Speaking on the neglect being meted out to polytechnic schools, Ezeibe said that funding of existing polytechnics has remained a huge issue.

“Budgets for personnel, overhead and capital have been insufficient consistently over the years with institutions exhausting their personnel allocations each year prematurely. In the current bill before the National Assembly, an underwhelming 7.8 per cent  is provided for the education sector,” he said.

He added that the recent release of N15 billion only to polytechnics for needs assessment intervention remained paltry in view of current economic realities.

 “We demand a complete withdrawal of the “No work, No pay’. As I speak, the government has not paid the  withheld salaries of lecturers,” he added.

On the issues of governance, ASUP president said that Federal Polytechnics in the country had been operating without the full complement of their governance structures since June, 2023.

He criticised government’s decision to dissolve the governing councils of all federal polytechnics in the country despite the certainty of tenure of three years guaranteed by the Federal Polytechnics Act  (2019 Amendment), adding that the measure has left the institutions in deficit of the required governance structures for their smooth operations.

He said that some of the polytechnics were actually in confused state as processes for the appointment of principal officers had been disrupted, staff appraisal processes cannot be concluded, staff disciplinary processes cannot be concluded and other statutory duties of the governing councils cannot be executed.

Ezeibe said the theme of the union’s biennial national delegates’ conference “Identity Crisis and Existential Threat to Polytechnic Education in Nigeria: Issues And Perspectives”, was deliberately coined to draw attention to the plight of the institutions.

As a way forward, Ezeibe said that ASUP welcomed the decision of the government to include the establishment of a National Commission for Polytechnics in the Roadmap for the Education Sector 2024 –2027

Similarly,  he said the union welcomed the decision to grant degree awarding status to Polytechnics as contained in same document.

He said the recent reversal of the demand by the Accountant General of the Federation of 40 per cent internally generated funds of institution should not be implemented as a temporary relief but that the policy should totally reversed.

He demanded an upward review of the budgetary provisions for education in the 2024 appropriation bill before the National Assembly to reflect actual needs of the sector.