The Federal Government must abide by the demands of university-based unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) announced on Thursday. To that end, the NLC will organize a one-day nationwide protest.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, and the National Association of Academic Technologists have not made any progress in the negotiations, according to reports from a meeting of the NLC’s Central Working Committee (CWC).

This was stated in Abuja at the beginning of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on the Congress by NLC President Ayuba Wabba.

Wabba urged all of the NLC’s affiliate unions to provide instructions regarding the upcoming one-day national protest starting the following week.

Academic and extracurricular activities at tertiary institutions in Nigeria have been put on hold as a result of strike actions taken by different institution-based unions in response to what they claim is the federal government’s refusal to meet their demands.

The strike in the education industry, according to Wabba, is disgraceful. The vulnerable youths had stayed at home for the past nearly four months.

You may recall that in our most recent ruling, we went so far as to write to the president and give him a 21-day notice so that they may hold a very important meeting, to be presided over either by the SGS or the Chief of Staff, to finally resolve the matter.

“That meeting was called, but based on the reports we received from all the unions in the education sector yesterday (Wednesday), including ASUU, NASU, SSANU, NAAT, colleges of education, and polytechnics, we have learned that no changes have occurred, and the committee’s deadline of three weeks for all reports to be submitted and for the government to be able to make decisions has not been met.

“As a result, the CWC took notice of that on Wednesday and expressed its deep regret that we are not moving on the right path, particularly in terms of high-quality education.

“Today, there are more problems with forms of crime, and this may be attributed to the fact that those kids have been at home for four months with no improvement.

“Time lost cannot be made up, and anything that can be resolved in a shorter amount of time can be done; why should the government allow the situation to worsen when there are things we can do now?” Why is it necessary to prolong things and deal with them later?

“I believe there is hesitation in dealing with this issue, thus the CWC has determined there will be a one-day national demonstration to draw the government’s attention to the need to address the problem right away. Following that, the CWC will make its next decision.

We have also intimated all of our affiliates, and we will release reports to support our decision within the coming week.

Additionally, he bemoaned the nation’s current gasoline shortage. The solution to the never-ending lines at gas stations, according to Wabba, is local refining.

Wabba added that the Kaduna State Government’s dismissal of teachers was being studied by the NLC.