NLC threatens warning strike over ASUU/FG disagreement

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a three -day nationwide warning strike if the Federal Government continues to ignore the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The Congress also said it would hold a national protest within the 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government.

The 21 – day ultimatum for the federal government to meet the demands of ASUU and the three – universities based unions: Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) will end on May 4, 2022.

ASUU on February 14,2022 announced a four week total and comprehensive warning strike following the inability of the union and the Federal Government to reach a common ground on the demands of university lecturers.

Some of ASUU’s demands include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, implementation of the re-negotiated 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement and the release of earned allowances for university lecturers.

Others are deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers.

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Following the expiration of the initial four weeks of the warning strike, ASUU had gone ahead to declare another eight weeks strike, saying that it was giving the government more time to meet its demands.

The NLC president said: “Within the span of the subsisting 21-days ultimatum given by Congress, the NLC will hold national protests against the current strike action affecting students of Nigeria’s public universities and occasioned by government’s failure to honour agreement reached with trade unions in our universities.

“The protest is to draw the attention of government to the inherent catastrophe in the emerging culture of Social Apartheid in our society especially as marked by prolonged lockout of students from working class and poor homes from our public universities while the children of the rich continue their academic pursuits uninterrupted.

“If at the end of the national protest and the 21-days ultimatum, the Federal Government still fails to resolve the industrial crises in Nigeria’s universities, the Congress would be left with no other option than to embark on a 3-days nationwide warning strike action in solidarity with our affiliates in the universities and with Nigerian students whose future and wellbeing are being robbed.”

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CREDIT: ALLSCHOOL, The Nation