Former chairman of the governing council of the Abia State Polytechnic,
Aba, Dr. Chuku Wachuku, says the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics
(ASUP) and its sister unions in the institution have been frustrating
efforts to cleanse the rot hindering the growth of the Polytechnic.
He stated that the three umbrella staff unions in the Polytechnic, under
the auspices of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian polytechnics (SSANIP),
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Non-Academic Staff Union
(NASU) have constituted their members into a clog in the wheels of progress
of the institution through their penchant to confrontation on even trivial
issues.
Wachuku who is a former Director General of the National Directorate of
Employment (NDE) said the staff unions were not committed to addressing
some of the problems of the Polytechnic and never allowed the council to
work since they were inaugurated.
According to him, “The governing council was sworn in on June 2016 and we
inherited 8 months’ salary arrears, but the Staff unions never allowed us
to work. The unions preferred confrontation to dialogue. Yes salary was
owed, but government is working hard to ensure that all workers are paid.
We are not unaware of the dwindling revenues of the government. You have to
situate the situation with the entire workforce of Nigeria. And relate it
to the Abia workforce.
“So, workers in Abia Poly are not in isolation as to what is happening in
the country. From the way the Union leaders conducted themselves, we began
to wonder if it is only payment of salaries that is causing all these
animosity. Was it against this governor or governing council? It is
remarkable to note that these oppositions were being coordinated by the
ASUP Chairman, Precious Nwakodo. It is on record that during the tenure of
the last governing council, the unions and Nwakodo endured over 11 month’s
salary arrears. I’m not saying it is good to owe workers, but they never
went on strike or shut the gates. Why were they vehemently opposing the
governing council the way they did? A situation where some union leaders
were writing that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s case at the Supreme Court is
almost over cannot be taken as unionism. It is targeted at influencing the
case against the governor. What has the governor done to them? He paid off
a N2 billion Naira loan for the polytechnic.
“I was a former Director General of National Director of Employment (NDE)
in this country and led several delegations to the International Labour
Organization (ILO); this is not the way Unions are run. The Unions need to
embrace dialogue than confrontation if they want the institution to
develop. What sort of staff union will resist the opening of the
Polytechnic when they knew that such would generate funds to pay the
salaries owed them?”
Wachuku added that the council’s efforts to introduce best practices and
reduce the over dependence of the Polytechnic on the state government was
resisted by the staff Unions coordinated by ASUP chairman, Precious Nwakodo.
“We made serious efforts to pay the arrears owed them but the unions made
things difficult. We were determined to work out our salaries from the
Polytechnic and reduce over dependence of the institution on the state
government but the Unions resisted it. We needed to raise the student
population, reduce overhead cost by 25% and workforce, some of who are
illegally employed, but the Unions refused to allow reopening of the
school. We have almost plugged all financial leakages; it appeared they
preferred the old order. The student population of the Polytechnic fell by
over 100%, yet the unions were not bothered. The other time there was a
huge difference in the soft copy and hard copy of a particular month’s
salary bill sent to the bank. My intervention saved some money for the
institution.
“Our offence is that we insist that the right things must be done. When you
overdo things, it means there is a hidden plan to achieve an end. How can a
union official be spreading sentiments that the chairman of the governing
council, the Registrar and the students Union President are from Ngwa. Is
this unionism? The council chairman must go, the management must go, and
the Registrar must go. The only semblance of organization in the
institution was during the tenure of Prof. Uche Ikonne as Acting Rector.
Before
he came, the bursary was without records, administration was porous with
too many leakages. We have an avalanche of staff whose employments are
irregular. The council was determined to sanitize the system. We had the
problem of bloated staff strength and other rots in the system. There are
over 1,400 workers in a small institution like Abia Polytechnic; but the
Unions resisted efforts to address these problems. Imagine a situation
where there exist over 40 people working at the Polytechnic bookshop, what
were they doing? A good number of the workers were employed without
considering the needs of the institution. We were determined to set things
right but the staff unions opposed our efforts because they are benefiting
from the rot in the system.”