COEASU might end strike this week
Respite is on the way for College of
Education students as the industrial action embarked upon by their
lecturers seems to be nearing its end.
This ray of hope came from the statement
of the General Secretary of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff
Union (COEASU), Nuhu Ogirima, who said that the new minister for
education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is set to meet with the union leaders
on Thursday, 17th July in view of resolving the crisis rocking the
tertiary institutions.
He said: “We are very much willing to end
the strike. But until we hear from the Minister on Thursday, the strike
continues. We do want a situation where our people will
be unnecessarily victimized. As we speak, we have not been paid salaries
for four months now”.
The Minister had met with the COEASU
leaders last week to discuss the grievances of the lecturers and the
meeting was described as successful with the minister promising to get
back to the lecturers come Thursday to relay the government’s position
on the issue.
Ogirima expressed optimism that the
outcome will be positive and beneficial to all involved and said he was
satisfied with the new minister’s commitment to improving the education
sector in Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) suspended their strike over the weekend after similar talks with the minister.
Let’s hope for a better news for Colleges of Education nationwide