By Abdulkadir Aliyu Shehu
Lack of commitment from the Federal Government has been described as the main reason the ongoing warning strike by the College of Education Academy Staff Union (COEASU) persists.
Chairman of the FCE (T) Gombe branch pf COEASU, Dr Ishaq Ahmed Muhammad made this during a current affairs programme ‘Tumbin Giwa’ aired on Progress Radio and Television Gombe.
He said the union’s compliance with the strike and listed other demands of the union to include; non-implementation of the consequential effect of the implementation of CONPCASS, 15 on lower cadre since 2014, the non-implementation of the 2014 needs assessment report in Colleges of Education, and non-payment of outstanding promotion arrears.
Dr Muhammad accused the federal government of impunity, statutory breach, and administrative aberration.
According to him, many colleges find it difficult to run smoothly due to the non-release of running costs by the government, because of the delay of running costs, “most of the time it will take the institution more than three months before the government releases it.”
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The COEASU chairman added that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll information systems (IPPIS) is causing havoc to tertiary institutions than good.
“More than 3,300 cases from all Federal College of Education staff, some of them owe federal government salary arrears for two to three months,” he alleged.
Also speaking on the programme, the COEASU Secretary in the FCE (T) Gombe, Mr Nattam Joshua Tomtsu said the government has refused to release the N15 billion revitalization fund it promised to the colleges of education across the country.
According to him, the fund was much less than the N478 billion recommended in 2014 by the Presidential Needs assessment of public Colleges of Education.
He also urged the students to be patient with the situation which he described as something unavoidable.
