From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) alongside the Academic Staff Union of the University (ASUU) and other affiliated unions held a protest rally across major streets in Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, over the prolonged ASUU strike.
Led by the state NLC chairman, Umar Halidu Alhasaan, the protesters, armed with placards, sought for intervention of Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu to end the strike.
Addressing the protesters, Alhassan explained that the labour leaders were on the streets to protest because the most affected students are the children of masses who were in public schools.
According to him, “ASUU has been on strike for the past five months and most of those affected are the children of masses. What we are doing here today is not only to end the strike, but to fight for the good learning environment, and best infrastructure in the universities.”
He added that the NLC will continue the agitation until the issue is properly addressed, and stressed that the labour would not hesitate to go into total lockdown.
In his remarks, the Kebbi State Chairman of ASUU, Yayale Ibrahim Danjuma, said that the strike was necessary to press harder on the government to honour its promise, stressed that the universities are lacking facilities to teach students, while the salaries of the lecturers were not something to write home about.
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Similarly, the leader of the Students Unions in the state, Muhammed Muhammed Majo, also said that education is the right of all Nigeria’s children, not a privilege, stressed that they are tired of staying at home and appreciated ASUU, NLC for their collaborations.
Presenting their protest letter to Governor Bagudu, on behalf of the NLC National President, Alhassan commended the governor for being among the five governors who have paid up the pensioners’ gratuities, regularly paying workers’ salaries and being committed to the welfare of the workers in the state.
He explained that they were at Government House to present their protest letter to him for intervention in the ASUU strike, and stressed that, as the chairman of the Progressives Governor’s Forum, they believe his intervention would end the prolonged industrial strike.
In his reaction, Governor Bagudu, who described the strike as worrisome, urged the unions in the state to come out with practical solutions to end the strike as well as how to be funding Nigeria’s education sector.
The governor explained the most challenging thing confronting the education sector is adequate funding which previous governments including military administrators have been seeking how to address it.
Bagudu appealed to the NLC in the state to set a pace for other Unions in Nigeria, by not following the footsteps of others, rather they should come up with solutions on how to end the challenges facing Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
“It is important for all the stakeholders to come together to find solutions to the funding of the education sector in Nigeria. No single institution should be closed for one day. We should be able to agree on why are we facing revenue reduction. Let us start analysing the situation, and come out with how to solve the problem.
“The NLC love Nigeria, just like all of us love Nigeria. Let us narrow the challenges, on how we could resolve this so that our institutions could receive better funding,” he said.
He thanked the NLC leaders for the visit and presentation of their letter to him.