Abuja / Abeokuta – The Central Working Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a three day warning strike, if the Federal Government failed to accede to the demands raised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
They issued the threat at the end of their meeting which held at the headquarters of the NLC, where they also slammed a 21-day ultimatum on the government to meet the demands raised by the university union.
Recall that ASUU and other sister unions with in the university system like the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions( NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), among others, have been on strike over grievances related to revitalisation funds and the implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, who presided over the meeting, said it is regrettable that while the children of the poor were idling away at home, those from rich homes are busy with their studies.
The CWC meeting resolved, “On the ongoing strike action by unions in Nigerian universities, the CWC resolved as follows: all affiliates of the NLC are to issue public statements condemning the intermittent strike actions in Nigeria’s universities particularly the current one which has gone on for about two months.
“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.
“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 three-day nationwide warning strike action in solidarity with our affiliates in the universities and with Nigerian students whose future and wellbeing are being robbed”.
Asafe said