ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Some angry lecturers of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State on Monday protested against six years of unpaid allowances and alleged intimidation by the management.
They have also warned the provost and management of the school to stop intimidating their members over their demand for what is due to them.
Addressing journalists shortly after the protest, Chairman, FCET Umunze chapter of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Dr Churchill Okonkwo, warned the Provost and the management to stop intimidating them.
Okonkwo said, “As a Union, we are all aware of the sacrifices we have made as a body to carry on with our tasks in the College despite the neglect of our welfare packages by the management which is currently so versed in the divide and rule antics instead of addressing the raised issues.
“Our College has been made a laughing stock to other colleges in terms of our staff welfare, environment and governance. We’re the dirtiest and most unkempt College in Nigeria with overgrown grasses everywhere. No clean sanitary facilities resulting in lecturers and students mostly relieving themselves in the highly overgrown grass bush.”
He further explained, “We are also aware that if not for COEASU wielding in to source for N1million to sponsor Agajelu to Abuja to demand our welfare that Management didn’t care that we are owed the TETFUND intervention since 2016 neither were they sympathetic to the fact that Teaching Practice (TP) mobilisation hadn’t been paid since 2018 and same nonchalance has also attended our demands for degree honorarium.
“It means that our meagre salaries are tasked to pay for our transportation to supervise teaching practice exercise since 2016 whereas the management always collects their DTA every time they travel or leave the college environment for official duties.
“They always think that justice can be pushed aside with injustice and this is quite unfair. At our congress of Tuesday 23rd August 2022, the provost was given a fair chance to appeal to us and make promises that will postpone the strike but rather than do it she resorted to threat,” he stated.
Recall that the lecturers had declared a three-week warning strike to demand their pay from the management of the college.
But Provost of the College, Dr Tessy Okoli, had in his reaction to the three weeks lecturers’ warning strike described it as fake news and asked parents and students to disregard it.