The Kwara state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in compliance with the directive of its national body, has staged a rally in Ilorin, the state capital, to press home the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on universities’ revitalisation, among others.
The NLC members in their hundreds, in conjunction with those of ASUU, NASU, SANU and other allied Unions, carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “There is only one way forward honour our agreement; and National protest to get our children back to school among others, went round areas like Post Office, Challenge, A-Division Round About and ending it at the Government House on Ahmadu Bello way to submit their petition letter to the state government.
Speaking with journalists at the NLC Secretariat in Ilorin, the state NLC Chairman, Comrade Aliyu Isa-Ore, said the rally was organised in solidarity with ASUU on the need for the federal government to honour its agreement with the Union, maintaining that the federal government had signed an agreement with ASUU some years back on University revitalisation and other sundry issues.
Comrade Isa-Ore added that should the federal government fail to accede to ASUU’s demand after the rally, the Union would embark on three-day warning strike.
In their separate remarks, the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Ilorin, Prof. Moyosore Ajao and the Chairman of the National Association of Academic Technologists Union, Comrade Awolola Femi, commended the NLC for supporting their cause, noting that university workers demands are legitimate and long overdue to deserve government attention.
“Let the government tell us which of our demands is not legitimate. We have right to ask for what we deserve. Is it our salary that has not increased since last 13 years or our demand for government to make infrastructure available?
“We are not robots. Treat us like humans and safe our children from idleness at home,” the ASUU chairman said.
Explaining that the struggle belongs to the entire nation and not ASUU alone, Prof. Ajao urged the federal government to address the lingering strike to safe the students from becoming public nuisance.
Noting that no nation could grow beyond its intellectual capacity, the ASUU Chairman called for the enactment of law to banning Nigerians from schooling abroad in order to allow growth and development in the country’s educational system.
The Chairperson National Association of Academic Technologists, Unilorin branch, Comrade Awolola Femi Paul, said: “We are in full support of the rally and ASUU strike because the government has shown so much insensitivity to the happenings in the University system. This struggle is not just for us who are staff of that University it is for our students, if you look at the decay status at the Universities today you will lament and feel sorry. Our classrooms are dilapidated, if you look at our laboratories there is no equipment, there is no chemical to bring out good research, look at our hostels they are down, look at every infrastructure in that University it is down, how can we continue like this, brain drain is happening in the Universities, all our good hands are getting out of this country we are in full support of this because we are fighting for the future of our children, we are fighting for the future of the youth of this country, we cannot allow things to go down like this, the only thing we can do is to come out in support of our parents body.”
