The Nigeria Labour Congress has announced that its leadership bodies will convene to determine the next course of action as the deadline it gave the Federal Government regarding the impending strike in public tertiary institutions ends on Saturday (today).
The acting Secretary-General of the NLC, Benson Upah, revealed this during an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.
Following a meeting with unions in the tertiary education sector, the NLC had earlier issued a one-month ultimatum to the Federal Government to resolve the ongoing crises affecting universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“We have decided to give the Federal Government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU, but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU. That is why we are extending this to four weeks.
“The era of signing agreements, negotiations and threatening the unions involved has come to an end,” the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said while briefing the press after the meeting with labour leaders.
With the expiration of the deadline on Friday, Upah told our correspondent that the NLC remained committed to industrial harmony in tertiary institutions.
He said, “In keeping with our pledge and in pursuance of our unflagging commitment to the noble causes of the unions in tertiary institutions, appropriate organs of the Congress will meet and decide on the next line of action. You’d be duly informed.”
ASUU had on October 22 suspended its two-week warning strike, granting the Federal Government a one-month window to meet its demands. The one-month window, however, expired on Friday (yesterday).
Among the demands are the review of the 2009 ASUU–Federal Government agreement, payment of outstanding salaries and earned allowances, and disbursement of the university revitalisation fund.
The union warned that it would resume industrial action without prior notice if no concrete steps were taken within one month.
But the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said the government had met the demands of the union.
Speaking to State House correspondents two weeks ago, the minister reiterated the President’s earlier directive that there should not be any strike in public universities, adding that negotiations were ongoing and that the government was doing all that is humanly possible to keep students in school.
