The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has reacted to the one-month strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to compel the federal government to meet its demands.
KanyiDaily recalls that on February 14, the ASUU had announced the commencement of a one-month warning strike following a two-day meeting between the academic union and the National Executive Council (NEC).
Reacting during an interview with Punch on Wednesday, Ngige said “ASUU just gave themselves a leave” because the union failed to notify his ministry before embarking on strike.
The minister also noted that the union failed in its agreement with the National Inter-religious Council headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev Samson Ayokunle.
Ngige said, “I am sure you know NIREC which is headed by the sultan and the CAN president. I am sure you also remember that the President mandated his Chief of Staff, the ministry of labour and the ministry of education to find a way to make sure that we resolve the issues with ASUU.
“Now, NIREC met with ASUU twice and they discussed some of these issues. The leadership of ASUU said they would go back and meet with their NEC. We were waiting for them to come back and then we heard they were going on strike.
“ASUU failed to get back to us and proceeded on strike without sending notifications. They just gave themselves a leave. If you want to go on strike, you should at least inform us officially by giving us notification but they refused to.
“You can not just go on strike like that, it is illegal. So, they are just on leave. We will work with them and they will call off the strike.”
This comes barely one year after ASUU suspended its ten-month-old strike after the federal government met some of their demands, including paying the lecturers their outstanding salaries using an older payment platform, GIFMIS.
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