The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) says the Federal Government has approved ₦32 billion for public polytechnics under the 2025 Needs Assessment Intervention.
The Secretary-General of the union disclosed this in an update to members following a meeting between ASUP leaders and the Minister of Education, the Minister of State for Education, and senior officials of the ministry held on Feb. 11.
According to the union, representatives of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the Committee of Federal Rectors (COFER), the Committee of Heads of Polytechnics (COHEADS), and other staff unions were also in attendance.
The meeting addressed two major issues affecting the union and the polytechnic sector.
On the 2025 Needs Assessment Intervention, ASUP said the ₦32 billion approval was aimed at improving infrastructure across public polytechnics nationwide.
It said a committee had been constituted to develop and implement modalities for the allocation of the funds to beneficiary institutions based on established criteria.
The union added that assessment teams would visit institutions that benefited from the 2022 Needs Assessment Intervention to evaluate projects executed under that phase.
“These visits are expected to be concluded within one month,” the statement said.
On the renegotiation of the 2010 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUP, the union acknowledged the efforts of the Yayale Committee in the ongoing process.
ASUP, however, emphasised the need to expedite the negotiations to ensure the timely conclusion and signing of a new agreement.
In response, the Minister of Education directed the Minister of State for Education to formally convey the union’s concerns to the chairman of the committee with a view to accelerating the pace of work.
The union further informed members that an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) would be convened immediately after the conclusion of negotiations and before the signing of the agreement to deliberate and take necessary decisions.
