Kaduna Poly to embark on indefinite strike

Academic and non-academic staff unions of the Kaduna state-owned Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria have issued a one-week ultimatum to the state government to address growing insecurity and poor living and academic conditions in the institution.

In a joint press conference by the unions in Zaria, on Sunday, the Chairman of the school’s Academic Staff Union of the Polytechnics (ASUP), Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Usman-Shehu Suleiman, said the employees will go on strike if the government does not meet their demands.

Mr Sulaiman said that on June 11, 2021, academic staff, their families, and students were kidnapped at the institution, forcing the state government to replace the school’s security guards with military men and some members of the Kaduna State Vigilance Service.

He stated that both the military and vigilante personnel were planning to leave due to non-payment of their allowance.

“The withdrawal of service by the military at the school would put everybody at risk of abduction and other criminal acts. There are informants who will leak this development,” he said.

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He stated that the institution’s monthly overhead has not been paid since February. He said this has caused the school to postpone exams and result presentations, and supply identity cards to students, among other things.

According to the union head, the school was in its 13th week of resumption and was meant to have begun examinations, but this was not possible due to the non-provision of the booklet.

“We will issue a one-week ultimatum to the government to address payment of the backlog of allowances,” he said.

Mahmud Aliyu-Kwarbai, chairman of the non-academic staff union of the polytechnic, said staff members live in constant fear of security breaches.

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“We don’t have functional security in the school; our security was withdrawn and replaced by security personnel from Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KadVS).

“The KadVS personnel attached to the school had left their beat because of the non-payment of their allowances, which led to serious theft and vandalism of school properties,” Mr Kwarbai said.

The polytechnic’s Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Shehu, told reporters that the school management was trying to rectify the concerns of the staff members.