At the expiration of the earlier 21-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government to attend to its demands, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has given another 14 days of grace to the government, after which the union said it would be left with no option than to embark on a nationwide industrial action.

In a letter to the Minister of Education dated 15 August jointly signed by its president, Asagha Nkoro and general secretary, Nuhu Ogirima, the union stated: “Given the apparent unwillingness of the Federal Government to meaningfully address the issues of grave concern to the survival of the college of education system within twenty-one (21) days, as enunciated in the (previous) letter, the union hereby states that should the government maintain its lackadaisical posture by the next two weeks, it would be compelled to embark on a nation-wide strike action in the colleges of education. In other words, the entire academic staff of the nation’s colleges of education would, indeed, cease all responsibilities and functions dischargeable under the law and statute if by 29th August 2013, the government refuses to take practically-meaningful steps towards addressing the union’s demands.”

According to the union, the issues in contention as highlighted in its earlier letter sent to the government included poor funding of colleges of education by both state and federal governments, decaying infrastructure, especially the absence of befitting libraries and laboratories for teaching student-teachers; non-budgetary allocation for critical services e.g. outsourced services and Peculiar Academic Allowances (PAA).
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