Reacting to the strike action that has spanned for so many months, the Nigerian Trade Union Congress (TUC) has made open appeals to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to shift ground and reconsider some of their demands by making some concessions so that the Nigerian university students can return to school after being forced to stay at home since February.
Mr Monday Ogbodum who is the Chairman of the Cross River State chapter of the Union had also made the appeal on Tuesday in an interview in Calabar, the state capital.
Ogbodum said ASUU had “clearly” made their points known to the world with the prolonged strike and advised the government not to always allow issues to degenerate to strike before taking necessary action.
The labour leader had also further added that the government should always put a human face to its action or inaction in dealing with labour unions to avoid the prolonged industrial action in the country which has shut down some of the services being rendered to the citizens.
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The TUC Chairman said it would be difficult to regain the lost ground in Nigeria’s tertiary education system because of the industrial action by the university lecturers in the last two years.
He says, “While I’m appealing to the ASUU to shift ground, I also ask the government to always put a human face in their actions.
“ASUU has proven its points to the federal government; the strike is justifiable, but ASUU should also know that negotiations are always a win-win situation and not winner takes all.
“Our children have suffered enough and most of us do not have the resources to send our children abroad or to private universities.
“I make bold to tell you that even the lecturers have their own pains from this strike.”
Africa Daily News, New York
