The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), has called
on the Federal Government (FG) to take immediate step towards acceding
to the various demands of the union.
This is based on the understanding and agreement reached before the
suspension of its industrial action, which lasted for over two months
in December 2018.
COEASU made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of the
Expanded National Executive Council (ENEC) meeting of the union held on
10th and 11th of September, 2019 in Akoka, Lagos.
The Union, in the communiqué, jointly signed by the President, Nuhu
Ogirima and General Secretary, Taiwo Olayanju, and made available to
DAILY POST warned that only an urgent attention by FG to the lingering
contentious issues, would forestall disruption of academic activities in
the Colleges of Education across the country.
Decrying the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Education (FME)
and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) towards
the desired effective resolution of all the protracted issues, COEASU
said: “Following the re-appointment of Malam Adamu Adamu, as
Minister of Education, the Union expects a meaningful rejigging of the
system to ensure the resolution of all lingering issues in contention
and that FME would address the manifest marginalization of the COE
system in the governance of tertiary education sub-sector.
“While our expectations subsist, Council charges FME and the
NCCE to take the issues of the colleges seriously to avert any possible
disruption in the COE calendar in the pursuit of the following lingering
issues mentioned in several of our correspondences: (a) Presidential
assent to the reviewed Establishment Laws of FCEs and NCCE as passed by
the National Assembly; (b) executive approval of Dual Mode (NCE and
Degree) for Colleges of Education; to check attrition of subscription to
teacher education by both students and lecturers; (c) the non-release
of the fifteen billion naira (N15bn) palliative funds pledged by the FGN
to revitalize the public COEs; (d) the non-payment of the sum of about
two billion five hundred million naira (N2.5bn) Peculiar Earned Academic
Allowances (PEAA); and (e) review of the policy of out-sourced services
and its implication on security in the institutions.”
COEASU expressed dissatisfaction over the attempt to impose the
application of the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System
(IPPIS) on colleges of education, considering the peculiarities of
tertiary institutions.
It said: “For the records, it is instructive to note that
Council reiterated her dismay over the prolonged surreptitious plan to
impose an incongruous and defective payment platform on the colleges of
education system. Council also decried the ubiquitous discrimination
against COEs as regrettably manifest in the manner by which the Office
of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has handled the issue
of IPPIS… Recently, the OAGF constituted Technical Committees on the
issue of mutually acceptable implementation of IPPIS for sister
institutions (the federal universities and polytechnics) without doing
same for the colleges of education.”
The academic body reaffirmed its non-aversion to policies of FG to
check perceived indications of corruption and leakages towards more
cost-effective payroll management system, it however, insist that “such
should take cognizance of peculiarities to avoid the entrenchment of
questionable payment regime that could shortchange our members
irredeemably.”
According to the union, “Fundamental questions abound relating
to salary manipulation, domestication of sabbatical leave,
non-recognition of peculiar allowances and 65years retirement age,
contract staff and visiting lecturers, tenured appointments, payment of
promotion arrears, the disciplinary prerogatives of the Chief Accounting
Officer of the institution and the general security of the system.
Juxtaposed with the difficulty in tackling the menace of cyber
infiltration by the global ICT criminal world – a challenge which has
become seemingly intractable even in technologically advanced nations –
the imposition of IPPIS cannot be a solution. Furthermore, the
over-centralization of personnel payroll, as represented by IPPIS,
contradicts global best practices in the fiscal management of tertiary
institutions, given their operational intricacies.
Consequently, a fiscal practice that may be adjudged suitable for
the core civil service could be antithetical for the tertiary education
sub-sector given their diametrical differences in all ramifications.”
COEASU condemned “the refusal of FME to direct the enrolment of
teachers of Demonstration Schools on the payroll of the institutions as
done in the case of a sister tertiary institution with similar policy.”
It also observed “as utterly unacceptable, the persistent poor handling
of staff welfare related issues in most State Colleges of Education in
the country. The pathetic situation is evident in the introduction of
promotion criteria extraneous to the extant provisions of the conditions
of service.”
The union of lecturers in colleges of education “critically
assessed the security challenges besetting Nigerians within and outside
the country”, noting that “While the internal security challenges
may be receiving appropriate attention, the recent surge in the rate of
criminal activities presupposes that a change in strategy may be
required for effective crime control.”
The communiqué further indicates that COEASU “considered as
unwarranted and condemnable the Afrophobic (xenophobic) attacks that
have bedeviled the Republic of South Africa in recent time.”
It added that, “although homicide, wherever it is perpetuated,
remains condemnable, for a nation that owes the achievement of her
sovereignty to the magnanimity of other spirited nations especially
African nations led by Nigeria, the current situation tends to question
the very morale that has been instilled in the struggle for a nation
state. Council, therefore, implored Nigerians and other nationals in
South Africa and those in their respective home countries to avoid
violent reprisals as ongoing international conversations hold promises
of stopping the crisis and ensuring compensation for the victims.”
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