The ongoing labor issue at the Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe, in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa, has been settled by Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa.
On September 29, the minister called a mediatory conference of the parties involved in the labor dispute that had caused the Polytechnic on the banks of the River Nun in Bayelsa to close since July 11.
Alausa set a resuming date on October 6 after carefully considering the views of the workers, the News Agency of Nigeria learned on Wednesday.
The meeting in Abuja was attended by the rector, the chairman of the governing council, and the chairs and secretaries of the three unions at the polytechnic.
The academic staff union of polytechnics, the senior staff association of Nigerian polytechnics, and the non-academic staff union are the unions.
NAN also learned that the minister ordered the governing council to form a new committee to look into several accusations made by the unions against the Rector.
The panel has three weeks to deliver its conclusions.
According to NAN, the meeting came after a joint petition was sent to the minister on the suspension of a meeting of the governing council to settle the labor issue due to insecurity.
Since there was no security danger in Bayelsa that would justify suspension when the council members were already in town for the meeting, the workers said in the petition that the insecurity claim was a ruse to avoid a pending investigation into the Rector’s charges.
According to the unions, the best way to ensure industrial peace inside the school is to suspend operations while Dr. Agbabiaka Lukman, the rector, conducts an investigation.
Although the governing council was legally required by the Polytechnic Act to deal with labor-related concerns, the workers had placed the institution under lock since the Rector had accused the three unions of violating the Act and taken them to court over labor disputes.
The tertiary institution’s public relations officer, Mr. Nimizuo Pereseigha, declined to comment when asked for an update on the face-off.
