Nigeria Technical Schools Vow to Continue Strike

Abuja — After six months on strike, Nigerian universities are re-opening. But technical school teachers remain defiant, saying they will not go back to work until their demands for higher pay and better facilities are met.

Strike leaders say millions of young people are out of school and the government has abandoned students seeking practical skills that would improve the quality of the national workforce.

Technical schools are where students go to learn practical skills, like fixing cars, building roads or managing offices.

Chibuzo Asomugha heads Nigeria's union of teachers for technical schools, which he said are literally falling apart. "It is really scandalous.

That is how I would put it. The position of our polytechnics is really scandalous and the government must pay attention before the system dies completely," he explained. "That is our warning."

The Kaduna state chair of the union, Mustapha Yahaya Bidda, said technical skills do not just help individual students find jobs. He says improving the quality of the work force ultimately could help develop the economy and drag Nigeria out of poverty.

Instead, he said, the schools are underfunded with equipment as old as 50 years. "The polytechnics are really languishing seriously. The laboratories in terrible condition," stated Bidda. "The workshops are in very bad shape."