The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has directed its members to only report to work two days a week.
OsunDailyNG reports that the umbrella body of lecturers in the nation’s Colleges of Education issued the directive following the increase of petrol price by the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
In a statement signed and issued to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday by the union’s National President, Dr Smart Olugbeko, COEASU enjoined its members to adhere to the new order until the Federal Government yields to its demand of a 200 per cent increase in salary.
Olugbeko said the decision was reached at the COEASU’s extraordinary meeting held on Tuesday amid the difficulty of its members to get to work as a result of the hike in the price of petrol.
He pointed out that the implementation of the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government two months ago had raised the price of a litre of petrol by 250 per cent.
The statement reads: “This worsened the inflationary rate on the cost of transportation, food and other essential commodities and impoverished the Nigerian people.
”Workers, including staff of colleges of education, kept faith with the government and chose to endure the untold hardship, thinking it would be only for a while as the government promised to roll out palliative measures.
”Alas! While our capabilities to sustain hope were already exhausted, the price of petrol rose further to N650 per litre.
”Now, the leadership of the union has been inundated by members’ complaints that they could no longer go to work as a result of a hike in the price of petrol and resultant high cost of transportation.”
Olugbeko explained that it became inevitable for the union to direct members to go to work only two days weekly.
He added that an emergency NEC meeting would be convened to ratify the decision to decide the specific days of the week members were to go to work while calling on the federal government to urgently do the needful as the action of the union against the hardship would have devastating effects on the students.
