As the 21-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government by the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) expires, president of the academic body, Mr. Nuhu Ogirima, has revealed that no step has been taken by the authorities to meet their demands.
Ogirima, a senior lecturer at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Okene, Kogi State, expressed disappointment at the Federal Ministry of Education’s reluctance in tackling the issues raised by COEASU.
“They haven’t called us for any dialogue or meeting of any sort. It’s only the House of Representatives that called us and we met with the committee’s leadership. The House Committee on Tertiary Education invited us to a meeting. We discussed. They promised to meet with the minister to intervene.
“The Director of Trade Union Service in the Ministry of Labour called and also said she would reach out to the Ministry of Education and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) office. That is the level of intervention we have got. But the Federal Ministry of Education has done nothing so far,” Ogirima said.
![[FILE] Leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) led by its’ President, Biodun Ogunyemi](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ogunyemi-and-ASUU-1062x598-1.jpg "Fresh strike looms as ASUU meets December 18 4")
He disclosed that the union would give the government another two weeks after which a warning strike would begin, to be followed by a full-blown industrial action.
ON a cheery note, the Kogi State government has endorsed the hand sanitisers produced by the Chemistry Department of FCE, Okene, and promised to encourage the patronage of the World Health Organisation (WHO)-standardised product.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, disclosed this in his office at the weekend when he hosted top management staff of the College.
He commended the institution for going into the production of sanitisers to support the state government’s fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Pledging to ensure that the product received massive nationwide, he noted that more public awareness was still needed on personal hygiene.
Earlier in his address, Registrar of the institution, Mr. Peter Ovansa, who led the delegation to the Ministry of Information and Communications, said their mission was to present the sanitisers to the commissioner and seek his endorsement of the product with the hope of getting the state’s partnership in its distribution.
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