The Committee of Chairmen of Governing Councils of Federal Colleges of Education has resolved to end the strike by lecturers in the colleges nationwide.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Emma Anosike, announced the plan in Enugu on Friday at a news conference to mark the end of the committees’ tour of federal colleges of education in the southern part of the country.
Anosike said the chairmen embarked on the tour to assess the situation in the institutions to enable it to submit a report to the Federal Government for immediate action in its effort to end the strike.
He expressed satisfaction with the infrastructure development in most of the schools, especially those provided by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The chairman, however, frowned at the attitude of the personnel, including the authorities in some of the institutions toward their duties and management of infrastructure.
“When we got to certain institutions, we realised that what they had in those institutions would enable them to generate revenue internally in addition to budgetary allocations.
“Some of their technical departments have well equipped department to build furniture that can be used in the colleges and other institutions. We have proposed that the school authorities should embark on such projects.
“We saw a lot of equipment lying idle in these colleges instead of being productive.
“The team was also exposed to cases of misplaced priorities in some colleges and in a particular instance where a college was building a stadium which was not needed there.
“At the end of the day, they will blame the Federal Government for not providing enough resources to facilitate teaching and learning,’’ he said.
Anosike, however, appealed to the striking lecturers to go back to work, assuring them that the government would implement their demands in no distant time.
“We will do everything possible to make sure that the government fulfills its part of the agreement.
“I am appealing to you to go back to work first because we have decided to take over the matter and resolve it once and for all,’’ he said.
Anosike said that a similar committee of the council had visited FCEs in the northern part of the country.
The colleges visited by the committee include Alvan Ikoku, Owerri; FCEs in Umunze, Anambra; Asaba, Ondo, Omoku in Rivers; Oyo, Abeokuta, Akoka in Lagos and Ehamufu in Enugu State. (NAN)
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