Asuu strike: NLC to embark on a Three-day industrial action after nationwide protest – Nexus News
The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) is moving ahead with its nationwide rally in solidarity with university unions to force the Federal Government to meet their demands.
It emphasized that the rally would take place in states today as planned.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, noted that the Congress would begin a three-day warning strike immediately after the protest.
According to him, an indefinite workers’ strike is likely to follow should the government cease to address the issues that caused the strike.
Wabba spoke on the sidelines of the ongoing 18th NLC Rain School 2022 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
He said: “The protest happening tomorrow (today) is not a solidarity protest but a protest of NLC against government actions that lead to our universities being shut down and our kids staying at home instead of going to school.
“After the protest, a three-day national warning strike will start, and if they fail to resolve the issues and bring back our kids to school, we go on indefinite strike. That is the decision of our National Executive Council.
“What will be helpful for them is to check the timeline we have given for them to resolve the issues.
“We are optimistic that they will be willing this time because we are also willing to get our children back to school.”
Wabba bewailed the worsening economic conditions.
He said: “I never knew that the exchange rate had moved within a week from N630 to N670. This is very frightening and it erodes the purchasing power of workers.
“There is no way we can continue in this direction and expect that there will be shared prosperity.
“Importantly is the issue of our children that are out of school for five months.
“What is even more worrisome is the fact that they keep posting the graduation of their children in universities outside the country on social media and then the universities where the children of the working class study are closed down.
“I was told today that we have three sets of students that ought to be in the university but unfortunately they have not even sorted out their admission challenges.
“So, it is a very frightening future for Nigerians, particularly the youths.
“The irony of it is that most of the political elites today benefited from free public education. Why is it impossible for them to fix our public education system? Is it about the class divide?
“It honestly beats somebody’s imagination. That is why all of these issues resonate that we need to engage politically. We have also realized the fact that they have used different approaches to divide Nigerians.
“Unfortunately for them, NLC is a pan-Nigerian organization that cannot be divided.
“Workers should not allow themselves to be divided along ethnic or religious lines. This is just a diversion of interest. Their division tool is happening now.
“Workers should be wiser, citizens should be wiser. We should work assiduously to unite Nigerians and not to divide them.”
Read Also: NLC meets ASUU, others on planned protest
State chapters of the NLC have displayed readiness to join the rally.
Pupils protest
Pupils of Sunshine Nursery and Primary School, Ile-Ife, Osun State, yesterday displayed a solidarity protest for ASUU in front of the Obafemi Awolowo University.
The pupils, followed by their teachers, carried placards and chanted solidarity songs.
The inscriptions read: “Stand up for ASUU, stand up for us”, “I am the future ASUU make no mistake about it”, “Don’t borrow our future away”, and more.
They implored the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the continuous industrial action in the interest of their future.
One of the pupils, Eyinimofe Lawal, informed Newsmen that they were sad by the prolonged strike and were out to show their grievances so that the Federal Government can find a solution to the imbroglio.
He said: “We are here to beg the government to listen to ASUU and open the gate of universities for learning to resume for our elder brothers and sisters”.
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