NLC Gives FG Four-Week Ultimatum To Meet ASUU’s Demands Or Risk Strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a four-week deadline to the Federal Government to resolve all pending issues with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) or face a nationwide shutdown by organised labour.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made this known at the Labour House in Abuja while speaking with Correspondents after a meeting with leaders of university-based unions, including ASUU, SSANU, NASU, and NAAT.

He expressed concern that some affiliate unions had been meeting with government officials without proper authorization, which, according to him, explains why many signed agreements were never implemented.

Ajaero warned that if the government fails to wrap up negotiations with all tertiary institution unions within the next four weeks, the NLC will take decisive action and mobilize all its members across the country.

KanyiDaily recalls that last week, ASUU declared a two-week “total and comprehensive” strike after a 14-day ultimatum expired on September 28.

The union, led by its President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, said the strike was due to unresolved issues such as poor welfare, unpaid salary arrears, infrastructure decay, and the non-implementation of the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government agreement.

Reacting to the strike, Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, stated that ASUU’s decision was unnecessary since talks were already in their final stages.

He added that the government had released N50 billion for earned academic allowances and earmarked N150 billion in the 2025 budget for a needs assessment to be disbursed in three phases.

Alausa also treathened ASUU that FG would implement a “No Work, No Pay” policy following the strike.

But Ajaero, during the NLC’s meeting, said the congress would not hesitate to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike if the government failed to meet the unions’ demands.

He also criticized government officials who hold meetings without the authority to implement agreements, saying such practices will no longer be tolerated.

Ajaero, who emphasized that the strike action would be taken in solidarity with workers in the education sector, condemned the government’s “no work, no pay” policy, describing it as unfair and provocative,

He said, “We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU.

“That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NEC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country will be involved so that we get to the root of all this.

“The era of signing agreements, negotiations and threatening the unions involved, that era has come to an end.

“The policy, the so-called policy of no work, no pay, will henceforth be no pay, no work. You can’t benefit from an action you instigated. We have discovered that most, 90% of strike actions in this country are caused by failure to obey agreements.”

KanyiDaily recalls that the ASUU had called on the Federal Government to prioritize paying university lecturers a living wage instead of a basic minimum wage.