AMINA ANEBI KADUNA
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Kaduna State Chapter has urged the Federal Government to quickly intervene in the prolonged Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) strike.
It also urged the government to stop the proliferation of public universities in the country.
The union during a protest in Kaduna on Tuesday lamented how the dispute between the Federal Government and the ASUU has manifested into strike action for over five months.
Speaking during the protest, the Chairman of NLC in Kaduna, Comrade Ayuba Sulaiman said that the strike action has come at a huge cost to the students, the university staff, parents, the government and the entire country.
NLC Chairman said the Labour Union is dismayed by what he described as ‘government’s paralysis’ and reluctance to end the strike.
“On our part, we have taken various initiatives to end this strike including writing to the Ministers of Education and Labour and Employment and the Presidency. Although this elicited some response from the government, it was tokenistic and not sufficient,” Sulaimon added.
He demanded that the government should as a matter of urgency pay the withheld salaries of university staff, honour the agreement with the academic union and establish a framework for repositioning the universities for competitive service delivery.
Responding to the protesters, the Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Hon. Yusuf Zailani, who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Isaac Auta, assured NLC of the lawmakers’ support to ensure that the students return to their various institutions soon.