By MUSTAPHA YAURI

The Joint Action Committee of the staff unions of the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria, Kaduna State, have issued a two-week ultimatum to the state government to address its demand or risk an industrial action.

The unions are demanding among others, the implementation of the requisite salary structure for academic and non-academic staff.

They are also seeking the implementation of 65 years retirement age for non-academic staff in line with the statutory provisions of states and federal polytechnics.

Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, Chairman of the committee, while speaking at a press briefing in Zaria on Friday, lamented obsolete equipment and poor infrastructure at the institution.

Suleiman, who is also the Branch Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), said staff of NUBA Polytechnic were being paid with Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Scale (CONTISS), which was outdated since 2012.

He said the union had approached the state government on the need to change CONTISS to the Consolidated Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS).

“At the last meeting we had with Gov. Uba Sani on Dec. 17, 2024, he promised to convert the CONTISS to CONFORCASS on percentage by the first quarter of 2025 and nothing was done in that regard,” he said.

Suleiman said the unions were forced to issue the ultimatum having explored most of the available avenues without any fruitful results, and the ultimatum would be effective from May 31 to June 13.

“At the expiration of this ultimatum, (June 13), if nothing is done, the unions will embark on a one-week warning strike, from June 16 to June 20 and subsequently proceed to an indefinite strike,’’ he said.

Earlier, Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), NUBA, Polytechnic branch, said the union has been agitating for the improvement of salary since 2009, almost 16 years ago.

“We had many agreements with the state government over the matter and nothing was done besides just signing the agreement and complaints of paucity of funds.

“The total staff strength of the polytechnic is little above 900 staff members and now the government had recruited 500 new staff, it means the financial situation had improved, hence our demands,’’ he said.

Corroborating, Mr. Hamdan Elisha, a lecturer at the school, said take-home of some lecturers at the polytechnic was as low as N64, 000 and described the situation as dire and obnoxiously saddening.

According to Elisha, the poor remuneration was one of the major reasons why many lecturers find it very difficult stay. (NAN)