In solidarity with affiliate unions in universities and students, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a nationwide three-day warning strike.
The NLC’s warning is included in a communique issued on Thursday at the end of the union’s Central Working Committee meeting and jointly signed by its president, Ayuba Wabba, and general secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja.
On April 13, the NLC gave President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration 21 days to form a panel to settle the concerns that have caused the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and others to go on strike.
According to the CWC, the NLC threatened to hold protests against the lingering ASUU strike within the subsisting 21-day ultimatum.
“This is also occasioned by the government’s failure to honour agreements reached with trade unions in our universities. If at the end of the national protest and the 21 days ultimatum, the federal government fails to resolve the industrial crises in Nigeria’s universities, the congress would be left with no other option than to embark on three days nationwide warning strike,” explained the statement. “This is in solidarity with our affiliates in the universities and with Nigerian students, whose future and wellbeing are being jeopardised.”
The NLC added that the protest was to draw the attention of the government to the “inherent catastrophe in the emerging culture of social apartheid in the society, by prolonged lockout from academics of students from poor homes.”
It further stated that NLC affiliates would publish public statements criticising the sporadic strikes in Nigeria’s colleges.
The current ASUU strike, according to the union, is concerning. It also called the current state of insecurity “absolutely intolerable,” and urged the administration to put a stop to the “monstrous cancer” before it engulfed the entire country.
It urged for an all-out battle to be declared against terrorists and their backers, especially those who diverted monies intended to fight insurgency.
The NLC also urged the government to focus on releasing all abducted citizens as soon as possible.
It urged the governments of Taraba, Cross River, and Zamfara to pay their workers’ national minimum wage arrears as soon as possible.
It also called on the Abia government to immediately clear the backlog of pension arrears owed retirees in the state.
