By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Anambra State Chapter, have joined its members across the country to stage a nationwide protest in solidarity with the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The protest saw members of the various participating unions demanding an immediate resolution of the lingering industrial disputes between the Federal Government and the university-based unions in the nation.
Speaking shortly after the protest at Ekwueme Square junction along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Awka, the State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Chinwe Orizu, said the peaceful protest was in compliance with the resolution of the Congress and represents the first in the series of actions the Congress intents, to compel the Federal Government to do the needful.
She called on the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to use his good office and good conscience to get the Federal Government to bring an end to the strike action; warning that NLC would be left with no option but to join ASUU in the strike action if the government does not resolve the lingering industrial dispute soon.
On his own part, the Chairman of ASUU, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Comrade Stephen Oforoah, explained that the essence of the protest was not for ASUU alone but for Nigerians irrespective of tribe, ethnic and religion placement to get back their educational right in the country, the education sector should be well funded and workers at the Universities should be paid off their salaries and their entitlements.
“The federal government should honour the agreement it entered with ASUU in 2009, and, make sure there is no disparity in the implementation of the salaries of all workers in the federal university system,” he added.
Comrade Oforoah commended the Labour Unions for the peaceful protest in the state.
Contributing, the chairperson, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), UNIZIK chapter, Awka, Dr. Uchenna Nwangwu, raised an alarm that many students of the Nigerian universities have now been forced into prostitution and other criminalities as a result of the protracted strike action of the ASUU.
Dr. Nwangwu who condemned the federal government’s seeming lack of concern over the manner the university lecturers’ strike action had kept the students at home for six past six months now showed that the country is under bad leadership.
Members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra State Council, and members of other unions also joined in the demonstration.
