The Ondo State Branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress on, Tuesday, joined their counterparts in other states of the Federation to protest against the inability of the Federal Government to resolve the face-off between it and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The labour union in the country had declared a two-day protest in solidarity with ASUU. The protest was aimed at seeking an end to the lingering ASUU strike.
During the protest, the workers in the state turned out in large numbers including members of ASUU and other trade unions.
They wore branded shirts and converged at Cenotaph, Alagbaka Akure, as early as 7 am where they took off to some popular locations within the metropolis.
The workers chanted solidarity songs as they marched through the popular Oba Adesida Road, carrying placards with inscriptions such as ‘Enough is enough” “End ASUU strike now” ‘Get our children back to school,’ ‘FG, grant our demands,’ ‘No to IPPIS inconsistencies; no to salary disparity in the universities,’ among others.
Addressing the protesters, the NLC Chairman in the state, Sunday Adeleye, lamented the lingering ASUU strike which he noted had crippled tertiary education in Nigeria, calling on the Federal Government to accede to the demands of university lecturers so that students could return to classrooms.
Adeleye said the NLC would not “relent in advocating good governance which would secure the future of Nigerians specially workers and students.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of ASUU in the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Peter Awopetu, who said government had been insensitive and callous, alleged that the government had spent billions of naira on politics and power game but nothing on education.
He said, “As of today, despite the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s directive, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, hasn’t done anything. That means, one week has been waisted out of the two weeks.
“There is none of us here who is below 18 years, it will be an insult to believe that someone is sponsoring us. Don’t we know what we are passing through? Don’t we go to the market? In a nation where they can’t pay N30,000 minimum wage, one person is embezzling N170 billion. We have to tell this government that enough is enough and nobody should tell Nigerians that there is no money in Nigeria.
“Nigerian government must rise to duty and block all the loopholes where individuals can embezzle N170billion.”
The state Head of Service, who received the petition of the protesters on behalf of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, expressed assurance that the Federal Government would do everything possible to end the lingering strike.