THE ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called on all Nigerians to join the mass protests planned by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and other workers’ unions to show solidarity with lecturers in Nigeria’s public universities.
ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke made the call in an interview with The ICIR on Tuesday.
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“The whole nation should be protesting, not just the workers. Their children are at home, and the children are appealing to every Nigerian. They are deliberately kept at home while those who are supposed to resolve the issue have their children attending schools abroad.
“It is a national thing, not just workers alone. But I want to commend the workers for their gesture. It is a national issue; it is for all Nigerians,” Osodeke said.
Last weekend, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) directed its state councils to mobilise for a nationwide protest in support of ASUU’s ongoing strike.
The nationwide protest is to hold July 26 and 27.
The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) has directed its members to join the protest.
On Monday, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) vowed to shut down the nation’s airports in solidarity with ASUU.
Similarly, the Coalition of Northern Groups Students Wing (CNG-SW) ordered its chapters across the 19 Northern states to prepare for protests in support of the striking lecturers.
ASUU embarked on an industrial action on February 14 over unmet demands by the Federal Government.
The strike, which clocked 156 days on Tuesday, has resulted in the suspension of all academic activities in most public universities in the country.
Efforts by the union, other stakeholders and the government to resolve the impasse have failed.
The ICIR reports that the ASUU strike lingers while some children of Nigerian leaders are schooling and graduating abroad.
In the last month, the families of two Nigerian governors have shared pictures of their children’s graduation from universities in the United Kingdom.
They are Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and Jigawa State Governor Badaru Abubakar.
Wike son’s graduation attracted criticism because six years ago, two years into his first tenure, the governor announced that the state government lacked the resources to sustain funding for its overseas scholarship programme.
Some of ASUU demands are renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ ASUU Agreement and the use of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), and implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed with the government in December 2020 on funding for the revitalisation of public universities (both federal and states), earned academic allowances.
The demands also include on-remittance of third-party deductions and rejection of UTAS developed by ASUU to replace the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), payment of promotion arrears, and withheld salaries.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].