As the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) begins a nationwide strike on Wednesday, December 12, 2018, Lagos State Polytechnics lecturers have refused to join the strike.
Explaining the union's reason for the strike, the National President of ASUP, Usman Dutse, said the strike became necessary after the Federal Government failed to implement the 2009 and 2017 agreements reached with the union.
However, the Vice-Chairman, ASUP, LASPOTHECH chapter, Salami Olugbenga while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the institution could not join the strike because there has been no ASUP organ in LASPOTECH since December 2017.
This according to Olugbenga was as a result of an internal crisis between the union and the polytechnic’s management.
“We are not on strike because we have some internal wranglings with the management sometime last year which is still in court.
“We can’t join the strike because there is no organ of the union on the ground for now.
“Our members at some points were looking up to ASUP National to wade into the matter and resolve it, unfortunately, the national body is seriously disappointing.
“The national came to LASPOTECH at some point and met the Rector, maybe because the rector was so adamant and the case was already in court, they felt there was nothing they could do about it,” he said.
According to NAN, Olugbenga also said the management of LASPOTECH had attempted to withdraw the case but the union executives knowing that this would enable the management to clamp down heavily on some of them, refused and filed a counterclaim.
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