The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria Chapter, has raised alarm over alleged poor salaries earned by the polytechnic lecturers as the union continues its strike.
The union alleged that the lecturers earned less than the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, which according to it, is sparking concerns over educators’ welfare.
The Chairman of the union, Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria yesterday.
NAN reports that the joint staff unions had embarked on a one-week warning strike on June 16, which has grounded academic activities at the two campuses of the institution.
The strike was hinged on the non-implementation of the National Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Salary Structure and implementation of the 65 years retirement age for non-teaching staff among others.
Suleiman, who is also the Chairman, Joint Action Committee of the staff unions of the institutions, said a net pay of an assistant lecturer at the institution was N64, 400, which he said was far below the monthly allowance of NYSC members.
“This, among other reasons made the institutions to experience drastic brain-drain and many lecturers are on the verge of leaving the institution.
“We lose cohorts of lecturers to Federal University of Transportation Daura, Katsina State; Federal Polytechnic Gombe and Kaduna State University (KASU) among other institutions.
“We have an instance where a lecturer was sponsored to acquire masters and Ph.D by the institution upon his return he found the situation unbearable and decided to leave,” he said.
However, the chairman added that the lecturer had signed a bond with the institution, therefore, he had to repay NUBA Polytechnic over N21m.
The chairman described the situation as ‘bad omen’ for the education sector.