NLC threatens nationwide protest over continued ASUU strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has threatened to embark on one-day nationwide protest to compel the Federal Government to find solutions to contending issues with staff unions.

Mr Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President, made this revelation, during the opening of the meeting of Congress’ Central Working Committee (CWC), Thursday in Abuja.

He said the decision was to make sure the Federal Government resolve the industrial issues immediately.

Wabba expressed displeasure over the continued closure of the tertiary institutions in the country, due to lingering industrial disputes between the Federal Government and unions in education sector.

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 a very high-powered meeting.

“We demanded that the meeting should be chaired either by the Secretary of 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.”

“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.

“We have also asked all our affiliates by the next one week to issue statements,” he said.

MOUTHPIECE NGR observes that the staff unions demand funding of the revitalisation fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme, and promotion arrears.

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