FCE Gusau suspends 3 months strike action

By Mariam Abeeb

The College of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, of the Federal College of Education Technical, FCET, Gusau, Zamfara State, has suspended its strike action unconditionally, saying that lecturers have resumed their academic activities.
The three-month industrial action was called off after a long-hour meeting by members of the union at the college in Gusau, the state capital.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the meeting, a member of the union, Muktar Abdullahi, apologised to parents, guardians and students for the inconvenience caused by the over three months strike.
According to him, the decision to call off the strike was reached unconditionally after the members of the union were able to resolve issues at stake in the college.
Earlier, the coalition of Zamfara State civil societies and the well-wishers had recently staged a protest over what they called the anti-progress pose of the union.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Alhaji Nasiru Garba, has said that they show their solidarity to Hajiya Hauwa’u Mukhtar Abdul Karim, being the substantive and only female and indigenous provost since the creation of FCET Gusau in 1988.
According to him, some members of the embattled union are undermining the college.
He said: “Some academic staff of the college do not want the college to be manned by a substantive provost; they always want to lead the institution in acting capacity as caretakers, which is very bad, and by doing so, the college will never progress.”
He called on the federal government, through the Minister of Education, to ensure the speedy transfer of the COEASU members to other federal colleges of Education.
“That will help the growth of the institution to allow the provost to continue with the good job she started,” he said, stating that the coalition of civil societies is behind the leadership of Dr. Hauwau Muktar Abdulkarim.