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The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has called off its strike action scheduled to begin today.
The decision to hold off the strike was taken on Tuesday night after what the union described as fruitful discussions at a meeting with the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education.
According to the South West Zonal coordinator of the union, Babatunde Dosumu, at the end of the parley, the minister, agreeing to meet other demands of the union, ordered the withdrawal of the circular suspending the implementation of CONTISS 15 and directed the councils and management of Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Anambra State and the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State to withdraw the circular/statement proscribing/suspending union activities with immediate effect and such circular be publicized on campus.
The minister also agreed to convene a tripartite meeting of councils, management and unions to resolve the impasse at Oko and Ado-Ekiti polytechnics.
The House of Representative members promised to expedite action on the passage of the Polytechnic Act bill.
Following the agreements, chapters nationwide have been urged to continue work until the ASUP’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in March in Bauchi, where further decisions would be taken.