By Derrick Bangura

Osinbajo has pleaded with ASUU to embrace dialogue as a means of resolving the lingering dispute between it and the federal government.

He also urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to help facilitate a resolution of the dispute with the University workers through dialogue.

Osinbajo’s appeal came just as the organised labour lamented the rising inflation, insecurity and total shut down of federal government owned universities in the country.

Speaking at the May Day celebration on Sunday, held at the Eagles Square arena in Abuja, Osinbajo told the workers to always pursue the path of dialogue in resolving differences.

“We both want the same thing – a country that works for all and offers each citizen a fair deal – even if occasionally we differ on how to achieve this goal. But at all times, we have through dialogue found a path forward.

“It in this spirit that I call on ASUU to embrace dialogue with the government and I call on the NLC and the TUC to help facilitate a resolution of this dispute through dialogue. I believe that we can find a path forward in good faith. And this is what we will do,” has said.

On the welfare of workers, Osinbajo said regardless of the challenges of low revenue, COVID-19 and others global economic stress, the administration has been steadfast in tackling the issues facing Nigerian workers.
He said the president had implemented an increase in the national minimum wage in 2019.
The vice president also said the federal government recently increased the retirement age of teachers so that they can spend more years in service educating our children.
In addition, Osinbajo said the government had implemented an upward review of the salaries and wages of the men and women of the Nigeria Police Force, “as part of our broader commitment to improving the welfare and service conditions of those charged with safeguarding our lives.”
In his May Day address to workers, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige pleaded with Nigerian workers to exercise some restraint in embarking on strike.
Ngige said both employers and employees are important stakeholders in the economy of any country, hence the need to work harmoniously to build a strong economy.
He said trade unions must desist from dictating to the government on how to run its business just like the government would refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Trade Unions.
“In the quest for good governance, Trade Unions must desist from dictating to the government on how to run its business just like the government would refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Trade Unions.
“Experience has shown that in the past there had been occasions of government incursion, but for this Administration, we have tried as much as possible to refrain from this act but sadly some Trade Unions/Associations have found this a very attractive trait to prove to their members that the leadership is tough,” he said.
However, organised labour under the auspices of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), while commenting on the lingering ASUU strike, said they had already issued an ultimatum to government to resolve the national embarrassment, adding that if at the end the 21-day ultimatum, nothing positive happened, the federal government would have to contend with the entire Nigerian workers.
They warned that the labour movement was fully mobilised to resist what they described as social apartheid that keeps the children of the poor at home while the children of the rich are in private schools and abroad studying.
They deplored the rising inflation rate in the country which they said has hit 15.7 percent this month.
They expressed grave concern that the high inflation may have been largely driven by fuel shortages and its effects on costs transportation, commodities and services.
In a joint welcome address by both the TUC president, Quadri Olaleye and NLC president Ayuba Wabba delivered at the May Day celebration, the labour movement also bemoaned the level of insecurity and continued shut down of the nation’s public owned universities due to the dispute with the lecturers and other workers.
Labour identified poor governance as the major causes of unemployment, poverty and insecurity in Nigeria which has worsened in recent times.
In the same vein, organised labour expressed concern over an upsurge in industrial crises in the country’s health sector.
Speaking on the rising insecurity in the country, organised labour said it was disheartening that despite the funds invested in national security especially in the fight against terrorism, it appears the terrorists are getting bolder by the day.

Ex-OAU Registrar Blames ASUU’s Strike on Proliferation of Public Varsities

Also, a foremost educationist and former Registrar, Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU), Ile Ife, Chief Alex Olu Ajayi, has blamed the ongoing nationwide strike embarked on by ASUU on the federal government’s insincerity and its low interest in education of Nigerians.

Ajayi, also ex-Registrar of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), urged Nigerians to rather blame the FG for not honouring its agreements with ASUU and for embarking on indiscriminate establishment of universities that the government is financial incapacitated to fund.

Ajayi spoke in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday, while being conferred with the ‘Fellowship Award’ by All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPPSS) Veterans , Ekiti chapter, led by its Chairman, Sir Lawrence Eegunjobi, to mark Ajayi’s 91st birthday.

Describing the closure of all Nigerian public universities as disheartening and portraying the FG as being insensitive, Ajayi said: “The federal government is to blame. It has allowed enthusiasm of establishing universities supersedes the reality of funding and what it can cope with. It has bitten more than it can chew.

“The federal government must understand that with proliferation of universities, there will be inadequacies, particularly funding. Anytime there is expansion, there is always deterioration if care is not taken and that is what we are experiencing in our universities.

“ASUU had made its points, but it should sheath its sword and listen to Nigerians and call off hoping that they will fight another day.”