The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has summoned the leadership of the Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, Bayelsa State, to a meeting on September 29 in a bid to resolve the industrial dispute that has kept the institution shut since July 11.
According to reports, the meeting will involve the Rector, the Chairman of the Governing Council, and the leaders of the institution’s three unions: the Non-Academic Staff Union, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).
The intervention follows a joint petition by the unions protesting the suspension of a governing council meeting intended to address their grievances.
The workers alleged that the suspension, reportedly due to security concerns, was a ploy to avoid probing allegations against the Rector, Dr Agbabiaka Lukman, noting that no security threat existed in Bayelsa at the time.
The unions have insisted that suspending the Rector pending investigation is the only path to restoring industrial harmony. They accused Lukman of breaching the Polytechnic Act by taking the unions to court over labour disputes that, by law, fall under the jurisdiction of the governing council.
The institution has remained closed as the workers press for action.
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