SOME secondary school students in Nasarawa State, have called for truce between the government and labour unions to end the ongoing workers strike by academic staff in tertiary institutions in the state.
Secondary school teachers in the state have also joined the strike.
A cross section of the students appealed to the government and union leaders to ‘take step’ to end the strike in the interest of the students.
The made the call on Tuesday in Keffi in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
NAN recalls that on May 12, labour unions in the academic sector embarked on indefinite strike to demand payment of their salary arrears, payment of their full salary and other entitlements.
On May 15, the State Chairmen of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Bala Umaru and Trade Union Congress (TUC), Danladi Sabo-Namo insisted ethat the strike would not be called off.
The students called for `understanding’ between the government and the union to resolve the industrial action.
Mr Musa Titus, a student, described the strike as `set back’ to education.
“The ongoing workers strike has adversely affected our education as academic activities have stopped in secondary schools.
“The strike is unfortunate. No student will be comfortable staying at home.
“That is why, I want to use this medium to appeal to the government and organised labour to dialogue to end the strike in our interest,’’ he said.
Another student, Miss Blessing Monday, called on the government to `do something’ about the strike
She also appealed to union leaders to negotiate with the government to end the strike.
In his contribution, Abubakar Ali appealed to the government and union to dialogue to call off the strike.
He said that the strike had not only crippled economic activities in the state, but had also affected the education sector negatively.
“No nation can achieve speedy development without education; the strike has affected socio-economic development and education negatively,” Ali said.
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