THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) took its two-day protest in support of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Members from affiliates of the NLC gathered in thousands in front of the National Assembly complex, with scores carrying placards urging the Federal Government to resolve the impasse with ASUU and other striking university workers in the country.
Leaders of major civil society organisations, including the Country Director, Actionaid, Ene Obi, joined the workers in the protest.
A former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, was also at the protest.
Addressing the gathering, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the government should not allow ASUU’s five-month-old strike to continue.
He threatened that should the government fail to meet ASUU’s demands within a short time, the NLC would proceed on a nationwide strike.
“If there is no intervention, no urgency, the issue remains the way it is; it will be a national protest for three days and strike action. We hope it will not get to that level because we are patriotic, and we are patient."
“We have met a lot of people behind the scene. It’s like many Nigerians are not aware because we don’t make it public. We need to expose what we’ve been doing to the public, all the information we are trying to put on the table.”
While decrying the infrastructure deficit and poor welfare packages for workers in the nation’s public universities, Wabba said Nigeria is not a poor country that cannot meet the demands of ASUU and other striking unions.
He said denying the children of the poor access to education is adding to the security challenges Nigeria is facing, as, according to him, the nation is breeding more terrorists by shutting down schools.