The Western Zone of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities on Friday called for a speedy resolution of the ongoing crises in Nigeria’s polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alfred Jimoh, the Zonal National Vice-President of SSANU, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the strikes by the polytechnics and colleges of education lecturers had constituted a national embarrassment.
NAN reports that the strikes in the polytechnics and colleges of education in the country began in the last quarter of 2013.
The lecturers were agitating among other issues for the implementation of an agreement it entered into with the Federal Government in 2009.
The affected teachers were equally agitating for the abrogation of the dichotomy between the holders of Higher National Diploma and their Bachelors’ degree counterparts for job placements and career progression.
Jimoh said it was wrong for government to allow the strike to protract for the period it had, adding that it was a bad signal to national development.
The unionist said that if issues surrounding the strikes were not urgently resolved, it might affect other areas of the economy.
He said: “I want to appeal to the Federal Government to do everything possible to find an end to this strike, because it has become a national embarrassment.
“Of essence is how such development is portraying the country before the international community, going by the fact that we have been yearning for national transformation and economic growth.
“It will do us a lot of good now to find time to resolve the issues through dialogue, so that the lecturers and students can go back to school.
“No country has ever risen above the level of education of its citizens.
“Therefore, we should see reasons with some of the demands of these lecturers so that together, we build a nation that we all can be proud of.”
Jimoh said the ongoing strike would affect the production of teachers in the country, which he said, was already a challenge in the education sector.
He said the strike would also slow down the country’s yearning for a technological breakthrough.
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