The Nigerian Labour Congress in Calabar has said it will pressurise the federal government to yield to the demand of ASUU so that Nigerian students can return to school after five months.
The Chairman of the NLC in Cross River said this when they embarked on a solidarity march on major streets of Calabar up to the governor’s office and the state House of Assembly to register their protest.
“If the Federal Government refuses to resolve this issue as soon as possible, we will not hesitate to call all the workers and embark on a total strike to ensure that we compel the government to do the needful.
“What ASUU is doing is the right thing, I thank them for their resilience because if other unions can do what they have done so far, the Federal Government will sit up,” he said.
The mega rally was in solidarity with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has been on strike for about five months ago.
Speaking, too, Chairman of ASUU, University of Calabar Chapter, John Edoh said it was inexplicable that the entire tertiary education system was shut down from Feb. 14 till today July 26 and the government has done nothing.
He said ASUU has several agreements and memoranda with the government which have not been implemented.
Edoh said, “This time is a time of implementation, the Federal Government must implement first before we return to the classrooms.’
He also spoke on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
“IPPIS was not congenial with university modus-operandi
“ASUU developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution UTAS which was tested and it passed for the Federal Government to pay the emoluments of University staff but the government has refused to use it.
“We are not imposing on the government how to be paid, it is a collective bargaining process, we are saying that IPPIS lacks the ability to capture the peculiarity of the university system.
“If we suspend this strike based on promises by the government and come back again in a couple of months to strike again because of the same issues as we have done in the past, it means we are not serious, it is implementation or nothing,” he said.
A representative of the National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS), Anthony Afufu said what they need now from the government is the implementation of all their earlier agreements.
Addressing the unionists, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr Eteng Williams, said NLC was doing the right thing as it had the right to speak to power.
“Our children have been at home for five months now and we are busy setting up committees without action; we cannot sit on the fence on this issue.
“I will present your grievances at the Speakers Conference because we need action now,” he said.
