In order to pressure the Federal Government to resolve the ongoing dispute with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other trade unions in the education sector immediately, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will launch a one-day nationwide protest.
This was said by NLC President Ayuba Wabba on Thursday in Abuja at the start of the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the Congress.
He lamented the country’s tertiary institutions’ ongoing closures as a result of unresolved conflicts between the Federal Government and industry unions.
Apart from ASUU, the federal government’s failure to uphold agreements reached by all parties has led to a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and its counterpart in institutions of education.
The revitalization fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) programme, and payment of promotion backlogs are all demands made by the unions.
Other issues include, among others, the resolution of inconsistencies in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement.
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.”
