"Very Soon ASUU Strike Will Be History" – NLC President
The lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) will soon be called off even as advised security agents to employ new strategies in handling the security challenges facing the country, says the National President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Abdulwaheed Omar.
Omar, who spoke at the 10TH Quadrennial Conference of the Nigeria Civil Service Union yesterday in Minna, condemned the use of security agents to oppress people in the nation’s polity.
He stated that the NLC, in recognizing that ASUU is an affiliate body, held a meeting with the union on Monday and would present the position to Vice-president Namadi Sambo who is now leading the government’s negotiating team.
He explained that ASUU strike concerns everyone and that the congress was hoping to bring both parties together, stating that “very soon ASUU strike will be history.”
The NLC leader added:
“Government signed an agreement and they said it was previous administration; if government can
inherit foreign reserves from the previous administration while dodging the agreement reached by the previous administration, government should fulfil its sides of the bargain,” he added.
Omar decried the way security agents subject Nigerians to hardships at checkpoints and other places, all in the bid to end the insurgence especially in some parts of the north.
He believes security agents should engage modern technology to fight the insurgency and give people a breathing space.
He decried the use of security agents by government to oppress political opponents, citing the happenings in River State and the closure of Adamawa Governor’s Lodge in Abuja as a pure display of impunity.
“Governance cannot continually be done with perpetual impunity, particularly in a democracy; we must tell ourselves the truth; we cannot act against the people that put us there”, he said.
