PRESS STATEMENT: END ASUU STRIKE NOW, FOR A THREE DAYS GENERAL STRIKE AND MASS PROTESTS

PAY LECTURERS! SEND STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL!!! END ASUU STRIKE NOW!!! FOR A THREE DAYS GENERAL STRIKES AND MASS PROTESTS

Press Statement

The workers and youth solidarity network condemns in totality the lackadaisical attitude of the Buhari/APC-led federal government on the ongoing strike action of the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Instead of meeting the demands of the striking lecturers, the Buhari/APC-led federal government has taken extreme measures to stop the payment of salaries of the workers since February. This strike, also, has kept millions of Nigerian youths out of the four walls of their campuses. We consider this action unhealthy and unfit for a developing country like Nigeria. Therefore, we call on the Federal government to immediately meet the demands of the ASUU and other striking staff unions so that students can resume.

It can be recalled that the members of the ASUU commence strike on the 14th day of February 2022 and 170 days after, the Buhari/APC-led federal government is yet to meet the demands of the union which include, but not limited to; funding for revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS); payment of promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, and the inconsistencies in Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System Payment (IPPIS), among many others. All these, in our opinion at WYSN, are fundamental towards raising and sustaining the standard of education in Nigeria.

While we acknowledge the 2-day solidarity protest of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in support of the ongoing ASUU strike, we hold that only a continuous and ultimately total shutdown of every sector of the economy can compile the government to meet the demands of striking unions. result. Otherwise, the ASUU, NLC, TUC and other independent bodies would appear like a mocking stock for the ruling elite. Therefore, we call on the leadership of the NLC to start preparing for three days of general strikes action that will cut across all sectors of the economy not only to demand that the demands of ASUU are met but also to demand better governance, improved security, the solution to the unending inflation, massive provision of safe and secure jobs, public prosecution of looters, among many other demands.

This will also be a basis for the NLC to start mobilizing for a mass-based political alternative armed with socialist ideas in order to wrestle power from the few bourgeois who oversee our collective resources and convert them to profit-making avenues for their personal, selfish desires. It is until the class barrier is broken through a socialist program and every citizen is averagely equal that the leadership of the country will take education seriously as it will also directly affect their wards. The trade union centres must unite in the fight against inflation and insecurity. The unity of the oppressed working people is needed to build a movement that can end the power of the ruling class.

Damilola Owot

Secretary, Workers and Youths Solidarity Network (WYSN)