The Leadership of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has lambasted the Federal Government and political actors for allowing the strike by university-based unions to linger.
The workers noted that the Federal Government and political actors had abandoned the children of the poor at home to waste away due to the strike.
According to the health workers, no responsible government would close down its public tertiary institutions in this 21st Century because of patriotic demands for better funding of its universities and good welfare for its teaching and non-teaching members of staff.
They described the continued closure of these institutions as “shameful.”
Their position is contained in a statement jointly signed by the National President of MHWUN, Comrade Biobelemoye Josiah and Acting Secretary-General Comrade Auwalu Kiyawa, yesterday in Abuja.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February 14, 2022, over the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands.
It was joined a month after by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and Research Institutions under the auspices of the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions (JORAISU).
The university lecturers blamed the government for failing to adopt the University Transparency and Accountability Solution-a payment platform developed by ASUU to pay them. The union also accused the government of failing to implement the renegotiated 2009 agreement reached with the leadership of ASUU in May last year.
The statement by MHWUN reads: “The Leadership of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria is particularly irked that the Federal Government and the political actors have abandoned the children of the poor masses at home to waste away, instead they are seen dissipating energy and resources that could have been used to resolve the issue to fund political tussle to occupy plum offices that previous occupiers have failed to use for the benefit of the masses.
We are worried about the development because the academic future of the citizenry is being disrupted whereas the politicians and top government officials have their children mostly in well-funded and equipped oversea schools or in relatively expensive private schools in Nigeria.
“Discerning minds will agree with us that the negative impact of the strike on the future of our children and Nigeria, in general, cannot be quantified. We call on people of goodwill to stand up in defence of the right and future of our children and Nigeria, by demanding the government do the right thing and bring these children back to the classroom.
“We condemn the lethargic attitude of the government in resolving the issues in contention. In order to protect the future of our youths whose academic life is being disrupted, we call on the government to implement without further delay all the agreements it had entered with the unions.
“We urge the relevant MDAs to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari’s earlier directive to resolve all outstanding issues with the unions is backed by immediate acceptable action that would end the stalemate.
“MHWUN wishes to use this medium to unequivocally state that we firmly stand behind the University based Unions and the clear position of NLC leadership in this historic struggle.
“Our state councils have been put on a red alert, as we will not hesitate to declare a solidarity strike in support of the Unions if the government fails to resolve the issue within a reasonable time.
“Furthermore, the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria categorically condemn in the strongest words the spate of insecurity in the Country. The rising orgies of killing, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and extreme agitation for secession have assumed a dangerous dimension. Hardly any day passes by without reports of security challenges in some parts of the country. Human lives have become so cheap and without value.
“Nigerian workers are no longer safe at their homes and at workplaces, as many have lost their lives to these enemies of the state.
“We, therefore, demand a resolute action from the government to end this degrading assault on the sovereignty of our country.
“We equally condemn the current scarcity of diesel, cooking gas, petrol and aviation fuel, and the rising wave of arbitrary prices all over the country. This pathetic development has further exposed workers whose salaries and income have already been eroded by inflation, to greater hardship. The situation reinforced the earlier call by the organised labour for resolute action on the domestic refining of petroleum.