The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Education to quickly intervene in the lingering crisis between the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) and the Minister of Education.
The House decision came after a lawmaker, Nnanna Igbokwe, asked the house to consider the issue, he said was of national importance.
Igbokwe’s demand is a direct aftermath of the protest match staged by both unions on Tuesday to call public attention to government’s failure to resolve demands that have culminated to a ten month old strike.
The deputy chairman, House Committee on Education, Rose Okoh, who blamed the Federal Government for failing to implement the agreements reached between both parties, noted that the agitations of ASUP-COEASU were haphazardly handled especially considering that the ASUP-COEASU matter is same with that of ASUU recently resolved.
The Nigeria Police on Tuesday dislodged members of the ASUP and COEASU who embarked on a peaceful protest in Abuja to press home their demand.
The lecturers, who gathered in front of the federal secretariat, were dispersed by gun-wielding policemen who later fired teargas at them for defying their instruction not to move beyond the premises of the federal secretariat.
The Minister of Labour, Mr Emeka Wogu, who addressed the lecturers before they were dispersed, promised to address the issues raised by the lecturers who have been on strike for ten months.
At a joint news conference in Abuja on Sunday, the unions had insisted that they would hold the protest on Tuesday.
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