The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has appealed to the Nigerian Labour Congress to shelve its planned protest in support of the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other university-based unions. Ngige,spoke just few days after President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to find solution to the ASUU strike within two weeks.
His appeal also comes on the heels of suggestions that Ngige and his counterpart in the Education Ministry, Adamu Adamu are yet to agree on how to proceed with the negotiation with ASUU.
Recall that Ngige had few months ago blamed Adamu for the prolonged ASUU strike, saying it was hard to get the latter’s cooperation on the issue.
The NLC had announced that it would embark on a nationwide protest on July 26 and 27 to compel the government to resolve the over five-month-old strike.
The federal government, however warned the workers not to go ahead with the protest, describing it as illegal.
Speaking to labour leaders in Abuja on Thursday, Ngige said the federal government is seriously working to end ASUU strike, and permanently solve the problems in the nation’s universities.
In a statement signed by the Head of Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Olajide Oshundun, the minister said the protest could distabilise the country, apart from the its security implications, adding that hoodlums might hijack the protest to unleash mayhem.
According to him, Nigerians may also misconstrue the protest as NLC support for the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Recall that the labour leaders have recently met with Obi, a former Governor of Anambra state where they assured him of their support for the 2023 presidential election.
“The masses might wrongly interpret the rally as a ploy by the NLC to enhance the chances of the Labour Party presidential candidate, a situation which could spur the supporters of the other political parties into violence,” Ngige said.
The minister explained that, “Section 40 of the constitution is clear on Freedom of Association. One of the provisions is that people of like minds can organise themselves and form a political party. There is also a provision that people in work or employment can organise themselves into unions. They are two parallels. Parallels don’t meet.
“I heard when you said you are mobilising for the Labour Party. But, a trade union is not a political party. Look at the Trade Union Act. It does not allow trade unions to use their contributions to support any political party.”
Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians have condemned Adamu and Ngige, the two ministers in charge of negotiations with ASUU for allowing the strike by the university teachers to drag on for too long. The federal government appears not serious to resolve the issue with ASUU, critics of the Buhari administration said, noting that there’s no coordination among key members of the Federal Executive Council, FEC who are supposed to handle the issue with the urgency it deserved.
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