NLC to embark on one-day protest over ASUU, others’ strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will embark on a one-day nationwide protest to compel the Federal Government to find an immediate solution to the ongoing dispute with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other trade unions in the education sector.

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, stated this during the opening of the Congress’ Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

He decried the continued closure of the country’s tertiary institutions due to unresolved disputes between the Federal Government and unions in the sector.

Apart from ASUU, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and its counterpart in the colleges of education are currently on strike over the federal government’s refusal to honour agreements signed by all parties.

The unions are demanding the payment of the revitalisation fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme payment of promotion arrears.

Others are the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, and the resolution of inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.

Wabba said: “You will recall that the last decision we took, we even went to the extent of writing to President Muhammadu Buhari, we gave a 21-day notice for them to converge in a very high-powered meeting.

“We demanded that the meeting should be chaired either by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), or the Chief of Staff to the President, for this issue to be resolved once and for all.

“That meeting was called, but from the reports that I have been receiving from all the unions in the education sector, progress has not been made.

“The timeline of three weeks that was given to the committees for all reports to be turned in, and for the government to be able to take a concrete decision, has not been met.”

The NLC president alleged that there was reluctance by the federal government to address the issues.

He added: “Therefore, the Central Working Committee has decided that there will be a one-day national protest.

“This is to call the attention of the government to resolve the issues immediately.”