Like ASUU, college of education staff union threatens strike over ‘unmet demands’

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has threatened to go on strike if the federal government (FG) reneged on what it described as its existing agreement with the body.

According to NAN, Smart Olugbeko, the national president of the union, in Zaria on Saturday, sensitised zonal delegates on its proposed nationwide strike.

On February 16, COEASU, through its national officers’ council, had lamented what it termed FG’s “aloofness” to the plights of the colleges of education sub-sector.

Olugbeko said that the latest visit was to keep congress abreast of the lingering issues between FG and the union.

“We are here to sensitise the congress on the efforts we have taken so far, what the government has promised and how far the government has gone to fulfill such promises,” the president said.

“If government reneges on its promise, there is the likelihood that the union will initiate the permissible Trade Union Act that allows us to take further action.”

Olugbeko said the union had yet to pick a date for the national executive council (NEC) meeting slated for March.

It is understood that the union would, in the next few weeks, mobilise its NEC to take action if FG fails to respond.

“By the time we meet in March, the principal officers of the union will present issues to the meeting,” the COEASU leader added.

“But we wouldn’t know between now and then if the government will have done something tangible that might not make the NEC take industrial action.

“As of now, we have not heard from the government and we have already made our position known to them. We expect that before then, we will get a response. If not, NEC will take a final decision on that.”

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had, on February 14, declared a one-month strike over FG’s failure to meet its demands.

It had lamented FG’s failure to fulfill some of the agreements it reached with it to suspend its last strike in 2020.

ASUU had also argued that the strike followed the government’s attitude towards the renegotiation of salaries and allowances as well as the adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.