From LAYI OLANREWAJU, Ilorin
The Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it is not backed down on its plan for a mega rally in solidarity with the striking workers of public universities across the country.
The state NLC Chairman, Comrade Aliyu Issa Ore, who disclosed this in Ilorin on Sunday, said the rally fixed for Tuesday 26th of July 2022 was in line with the directive of the National Headquarters of the organized labour in Abuja.
According to him, the Tuesday rally will take off at Labour House, NLC Secretariat, beside High Court, Ilorin at 7:30am.
He said the rally mobilization committee chaired by Comrade Rafiu Adeniran and members including the Chairman, state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed, had been given a mandate to organize a hitch free rally.
Ore explained that the planned rally would only be suspended if the state council of NLC received a counter-directive from the hierarchy of the congress.
He said the labour body was taken aback that the industrial action of workers in government owned universities could drag this long without swift resolution of the disagreement that led to it.
The NLC Chairman described as insensitive the refusal of the federal government to yield to the demands of the aggrieved varsity workers.
Ore said the planned Tuesday rally was to draw the attention of the government to the plight of striking varsity workers and students who have been idle since the commencement of the industrial action.
This medium reports that the ongoing industrial action of Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and other sister unions had paralysed academic and other activities in public universities for months.