The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared full support for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its ongoing two-week wa...
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared full support for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its ongoing two-week warning strike, warning the Federal Government against what it described as “empty threats” of enforcing the No Work, No Pay policy.
In a strongly worded statement signed by its President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the NLC accused the government of breaching agreements freely reached with university lecturers and failing to address the chronic underfunding of public tertiary institutions.
“The breach of contract lies with the state, not the scholars,” Ajaero said. “The lecturers are willing to work, but the government, by reneging on its commitments, has made it impossible for them to do so with the dignity their profession deserves. The core principle remains: No Pay, No Work.”
Ajaero argued that the government’s neglect of public education reflects a wider crisis of inequality, where the children of the elite attend schools abroad while those of the poor are left in collapsing institutions. He warned that the continued erosion of public education threatens the nation’s future.
The NLC also announced plans to convene an emergency meeting with its affiliates in the tertiary education sector if the Federal Government fails to act after ASUU’s two-week warning strike.
“The struggle of ASUU is our struggle,” the NLC President declared. “The fight for public education is a fight for Nigeria’s future. We will no longer allow these unions to stand alone.”
The Congress called on the Federal Government to use the two-week window to present a concrete plan for implementing all agreements reached with ASUU, urging it to “honour the agreements and salvage public education, or face the unified force of the Nigerian workforce.”
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