The Kaduna State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticized Governor Uba Sani for allegedly neglecting the state’s tertiary education system, which it claims triggered the ongoing warning strike by staff unions.
Workers at Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Kaduna State College of Education (Gidan Waya), Kaduna State College of Nursing, and Shehu Idris College of Health Technology (Makarfi) began the strike on Thursday to protest deteriorating infrastructure and poor working conditions.
APC’s Criminal Neglect of Tertiary Education in Kaduna State is a Tragic Betrayal of Our Youth and Future
The recent notice of a three-day warning strike by the Joint Congress of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya – comprising COEASU, SSUCOEN, and NASU – is yet another damning indictment of the APC-led administration’s catastrophic failure in managing the educational sector in Kaduna State.
As the leading opposition voice and a passionate advocate for quality education in our dear state, I cannot remain silent while our institutions are reduced to relics of what they once were.
Let us be clear: this strike is not just about salaries. It is about survival – of our schools, our educators, and the dreams of thousands of students whose academic progress now hangs in the balance due to government negligence.
This administration has turned its back on tertiary education.
Despite repeated promises, the APC government has failed to implement the 15-year-old CONPCASS/CONTEDISS salary structure. Newly recruited lecturers now earn a shameful ₦64,000 per month — less than the NYSC allowance! This is not just unsustainable, it is disgraceful. It is no surprise that our best and brightest lecturers are leaving in droves, deepening the brain drain and crippling our institutions.
Furthermore, the government’s refusal to review the Executive Order on 65-year retirement age to include non-academic staff reflects a complete lack of empathy and strategic foresight. What we are witnessing is not mere incompetence — it is a deliberate abandonment of responsibility.
The APC administration’s track record on education is littered with unfulfilled promises, broken agreements, and deafening silence in the face of crises. If the government had shown a fraction of the urgency it reserves for politics and propaganda, we would not be facing this moment.
This strike should serve as a wake-up call to all well-meaning citizens of Kaduna State. It is time to rescue our education sector from this spiral of failure. It is time for leadership that listens, that acts, and that prioritizes education not in words, but in budgetary allocations and policy actions.
We stand in full solidarity with the staff unions and the academic community. Their demands are just, their sacrifices enormous, and their patience stretched thin.
I call on the Kaduna State Government to act decisively and immediately. Engage the unions with sincerity. Implement the agreed salary structures. Invest in our institutions. Restore dignity to teaching.
Failure to do so will not only further tarnish the APC’s already battered credibility but will confirm what the people of Kaduna are increasingly realizing — that this government is incapable of securing their future.
