The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has directed its members nationwide to work two days a week until the federal government yields to its demand for a 200 per cent increase in salary.

In a statement on Wednesday, COEASU national president Smart Olugbeko said the union decided at its extraordinary meeting on Tuesday amid the difficulty of its members getting to work as a result of the hike in the price of petrol.

He lamented that implementing the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government two months ago raised food and transportation costs and impoverished Nigerians.

“Workers, including staff of colleges of education, kept faith with the government and chose to endure the untold hardship, thinking it would be only for a while as the government promised to roll out palliative measures.

”Alas! While our capabilities to sustain hope were already exhausted, the price of petrol rose further to N650 per litre.

”Now, the leadership of the union has been inundated by members’ complaints that they could no longer go to work as a result of the hike in the price of petrol and the resultant high cost of transportation,” he said.

Mr Olugbeko explained that it became inevitable for the union to direct members to work only two days a week.

He added that an emergency NEC meeting would be convened to ratify the decision to determine the specific days of the week members were to go to work.

Mr Olugbeko recalled that the staff salaries structure was last approved in 2010 despite the petrol price increase.

He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to address their plights, just as he warned that the union’s actions would affect the students.

”Our salary structure, which is subject to renegotiation at a three-year interval, has remained static for 13 years, skipping four due renegotiations.

”We call on the federal government to urgently do the needful because the inevitable action of the union against this hardship will have devastating effects on the students.

”This will lead to a prolonged academic calendar; a semester of 16 weeks will become 32 weeks or more, while a teaching practice exercise of six months will become 12 months,” he said.

(NAN)