The Nigeria Labour Congress has thrown its full weight behind the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities and other tertiary institution unions, issuing a four-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclusively resolve all lingering disputes or face a comprehensive nationwide shutdown.
The move signals a significant escalation in the ongoing industrial crisis that has shut down the nation’s public universities and threatens to paralyze the entire economy if the government fails to act.
The resolution was reached on Monday after an emergency meeting between the NLC leadership and the heads of various academic unions, including ASUU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, among others. The meeting was convened at the NLC national headquarters in Abuja to forge a unified strategy against the federal government’s handling of tertiary education issues.
Briefing journalists after the closed-door session, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, declared that the era of the government reneging on agreements with unions was over.
“We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiation in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU,” Ajaero stated firmly.
“That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NEC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country will be involved so that we get to the root of all this.”
The NLC president specifically targeted the government’s ‘no-work-no-pay’ policy, which has been used to withhold salaries from striking university lecturers, announcing a dramatic reversal of the policy’s logic.
“The policy, the so-called policy of no work, no pay, will henceforth be no pay, no work. You canāt benefit from an action you instigated,” Ajaero asserted. “We have discovered that most, 90 per cent of strike actions in this country, are caused by failure to obey agreements.”
The solidarity from the organized labour movement represents a significant boost for ASUU, which began its latest strike eight days ago after the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum issued to the government on September 28. The union is demanding the full implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, release of three-and-a-half months of withheld salaries, sustainable funding for universities, and payment of outstanding promotion and salary arrears, among other issues.
Backing the NLC’s hardened position, ASUU National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, expressed frustration with government negotiators who lack the authority to make binding decisions.
“We would no longer accept a situation where government will appoint its representatives to a meeting. You ask them whether they have a mandate to negotiate on the part of government. They say yes, only for them to turn back and bring to that same table offers that were totally out of what you had agreed with them, claiming that that is what their principal gave them,” Piwuna explained.
“We will fully back the Nigerian Labour Congress in ensuring that that era where people would say they have mandates and turn around to bring to you alien documents to an agreement is totally over.”
The unification of the entire labour movement behind the academic unions presents the Tinubu administration with one of its most significant industrial relations challenges to date. The threat of a total shutdown extends the impact of the university crisis beyond the education sector to potentially affect every facet of the national economy.
With the clock now ticking on the four-week deadline, the federal government faces mounting pressure to transition from prolonged negotiations to tangible solutions or risk a nationwide strike that could bring the country to a standstill.
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