Osun NLC, TUC, CSOs, others protest in solidarity with striking university lecturers

The Osun State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other groups on Tuesday joined the demonstration with a call to the federal government to speedily find a lasting solution to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to stabilize the country educational sector.

This is in compliance with the directive of the national leadership of the NLC that all workers including trade unions in the country should stage protests in solidarity with the ASUU to claim their outstanding entitlements from the federal government.

The unionists who staged a peaceful protest in Osogbo, the state capital as early as 10.00 am on Tuesday, frowned at the way and manner the system of education in the country has been, calling on the concerned authorities to do the needful to address the worrisome situation.

The activists which converged in front of Ogo- Oluwa kiitan motors in Osogbo, organized themselves into groups to express their bitterness and anger on the lukewarm attitude of the federal government to tackle ASUU demands headlong in the last few months.

The protesters were seen displaying banners with different inscriptions that read: “It is high time the federal government address to ASUU demand to revive the comatose in the educational sector”, ” Administration of president, Mohammadu Buhari is unfit to govern the country”, ” On this demand, it is no retreat, no surrender, until demands of university striking lecturers are attended to”, they poised for war against the government for being adamant to the plights of the striking lecturers.

They marched through the state House of Assembly and the state Secretariat where they stopped to condemn the government on what they described as the ‘I don’t care attitude posture” put on by president Mohammadu Buhari.

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The protest, however, disrupted the free flowing of vehicles and motorcycles while other passersby also find it difficult to move freely as expected in the area due to the prolonged hold-up that was recorded as a result of the exercise.

Speaking at the protest, Chairman of Osun Civil Societies Coalition, Comrade Waheed Lawal, frowned at the federal government’s hard-line posture in addressing the ASUU demands saying as a result of the ASUU strike, the country’s education has become a strangulated one.

He noted that many female students had been impregnated while scores of male students have joined bad gangs that made them involved in criminal activities and other nefarious deeds that have thrown societies into a sorry sight one.

Also, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union Of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Wasiu Ajadosu, wondered how the management of ASUU strike by the federal government has become a difficult one when attention is being given to other frivolities in the country.

Ajadosu who described education as power, knowledge and an ingredient to advance any given society, called on the concerned authorities to in the name of God, offset the striking lecturers’ outstanding entitlements to make them return to classrooms.

According to him, the strike action has scattered many homes, caused rancour between parents and students and at the same time make many undergraduate students to be idle.

Also, Comrade Saka Waheed (MAO) charges the federal government to hearken to the demands of ASUU for the advancement of the educational sector in the country.

He described the educational sector as messy as a result of the ongoing strike by the university lecturers and therefore admonished the federal government to give a listening ear to their allowances and other entitlements.

While addressing the other protesters, the chairman of NLC in the state, Comrade Adekomi who spoke through his deputy, Comrade Awotayo, attributed the failure of the educational sector in the country to the Federal government’s misplacement of priorities.

He, however, maintained that the protest would continue until the federal government implemented payment of entitlements owe the striking lecturers.

According to him, “one decade after the 2009 agreement ought to have been done away with and replaced by another, we stand here today to speak to the conscience of a draconian government demanding that they simply honour what they signed.

“The spirit of the 2009 and previous or future agreements is to effectively stop the increasing problem of brain drain which is a lot worse today than it was in 2009 and to raise the research conduct and delivery by increasing funding as a major driver.

“After a series of industrial actions, the renegotiation started by Dr Wale Babalakin-led team in 2017 was finally concluded in May 2021 with Prof. Munzali Jubrin taking over as the Chairman after Dr Babalakin’s removal. Surprisingly, nine months after rather than sign or clarify any grey areas in the agreement, the Federal Government decided to set up another renegotiation team headed by Emeritus Prof. Nimi Briggs (who himself had been part of the earlier team from 2017) in March 2022.

“Meanwhile, due to the lack of adequate response by the government and breakdown of mutual trust, ASUU simply resumed its previously suspended strike on February 14, 2022. The tension between ASUU and the FG worsened when the latter forcefully began to pay university workers using the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) despite its rejection by ASUU.

“ASUU has since developed its own homegrown University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a better option to better manage the peculiarity of the university system. It must be noted that nowhere in the world is university staff paid using a central national system as been demanded by the FG.

He however demanded that the status of Nigeria’s university education be raised as demanded by ASUU as “the life of our children and wards have been paused for long enough. It is time to restart the university engine of the nation again.

The NLC spokesperson added that “the Federal Government must conclude the renegotiation with ASUU and other university-based unions with immediate effect and ensure implementation does not again become another problem.

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