Nigerian Workers Protest Continuing Speakers’ Union Strike
Abuja, Nigeria – A nationwide labor protest in Nigeria spread to the capital, Abuja, on Wednesday as protesters sought to pressure authorities to resolve a payment dispute with university professors.
The lecturers walked out on Feb. 14 because of the dispute and a broken government promise to invest $500 million in public universities. The strike affected millions of Nigerian students.
Thousands of protesters comprising of Nigerian workers from various sectors marched towards the National Assembly on the second day of a solidarity demonstration for the Academic Staff Union of Universities or ASUU.
The joint protest aims to pressure authorities to address lingering funding problems at public universities that sparked a strike by professors five months ago.
But protesters said there were other issues, such as insecurity and the state of the Nigerian economy, which also needed urgent attention.
Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba said the problems stem from years of authorities neglecting the education system.
“The working class children, the children of the underprivileged have been home for five months and no one cares, while their children are graduating from overseas universities daily and they have the audacity to post them on social media for us to see,” Wabba said. “Once you denied citizens education, you denied them everything.
More than 8 million students at public universities in Nigeria are affected by the strike, including protester Adamu Umar, who is an undergraduate student at Ahmadu Bello University.
“I’m almost getting to the point where I can’t tolerate anything from the Nigerian government anymore,” Umar said. “I got admitted in 2019, I’m supposed to graduate now.”
University teachers walked out of classrooms on February 14 after an unsuccessful meeting with education authorities to honor a 2009 government pledge to invest $500 million in public universities.
Nigerian public universities are said to suffer from insufficient funding and poor management. Many also lack adequate facilities.
Protesters say the pay of Nigerian teachers is low compared to their counterparts overseas.
Emmanuel Osadeke, president of the University Academic Staff Union, said authorities had tried to punish striking professors by not paying salaries during the strike.
“The first thing they did was stop the salaries instead of solving the problem thinking that in two or three months we will come begging,” Osadeke said.
Instead, Osadeke said, the resilience of its union members could make the strike last much longer.
“We have to change the Nigerian university system no matter what,” he said.
Some lawmakers responded to protesters on Wednesday and demanded that they give authorities a bit more time to pay the promised money.
In February, authorities said they had paid $230 million of the agreed $500 million.
The Nigerian Labor Congress represents millions of workers in various sectors, including teachers’ unions.
A similar strike in 2020 lasted nine months.
Nigerian Workers Protest Continuing Speakers’ Union Strike
Source link Nigerian Workers Protest Continuing Speakers’ Union Strike
