The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Joint Action Committee, comprising the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, have said their planned protest in solidarity with the Academic Staff Union of Universities will hold as planned.
The labour unions said they were not aware of any security report by the Department of State Services that advised against the rally, insisting that their protest in solidarity with ASUU over its six months old strike would hold on July 26 and 27.
ASUU had on February 14, 2022 embarked on a nationwide strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honour the agreement it reached with the union in 2009. The issues in contention include the delay in the release of the revitalisation fund for the universities, adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as the preferred payment platform for the university system and the payment of earned academic allowances to lecturers.
Despite the series of meetings between the Federal Government and the union, the issues have yet to be resolved, prolonging the strike and prompting the intervention of the NLC.
On Thursday, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, cautioned against the demonstration, saying he received a security report from the DSS that the rally might be hijacked by hoodlums.
Responding to Ngige on Friday in an interview, the Head, Information and Public Affairs, NLC, Benson Upah, stated that the congress was not aware of any security report by the DSS.
He noted that the rally was a symbolic gesture to pressure the government to resolve the five-month ASUU strike, adding that the union’s rallies were always peaceful and that participants had always conducted themselves in a peaceful manner.
He said the police were aware of the protest and would be expected to provide security during the exercise.
He said, “First and foremost, none of our rallies have ever been associated with violence; Nigerians can attest to that. We have always been peaceful; we will ensure we are not implicated. We will carry out our duty as usual.
“I’m not aware of any directive sent to us but I heard the Minister of Labour and Employment saying an advisory came to him, but this will not be the first time such an advisory will be issued.
The NLC spokesperson clarified that the organised labour was not going on strike action but a rally where labour leaders would speak on the issues at stake.
He added, “Let us also take note of the fact that this is not a strike action but a peaceful rally. It’s a symbolic gesture so
people should understand and know the difference. The police are welcomed. When we are holding rallies like this, we invite the police, not to seek their permission, because the law says we don’t need their permission and that we have been automatically granted the permission.”
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, the NASU General Secretary and spokesperson, SSANU/NASU JAC, Peters Adeyemi, and the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, stated that their members would participate in the rally dressed in their uniform.
Ibrahim said, “For your information, the four unions are affiliated to NLC. We pay our dues, it is not free. So we enjoy all the rights and privileges of NLC membership and therefore when the issue became intractable, we took this matter to NLC and being our umbrella body, NLC took certain steps, one of which is if the previous meetings did not yield any fruit, then there will be a protest rally.
“This rally is organised by the NLC and we will be there and our members will appear in our uniforms.
“Since the law enforcement agencies have been informed, we expect that they will give us protection. We expect that they will make sure that certain groups will not have access to where we are. So, it is not our duty to say this is how we will prevent others from coming. We will not allow ourselves to be used by any politician.”
