MWUN in solidarity with ASUU, as early as 7am on the first day of protest, all dressed in white stormed Alausa Secretariat,
By Uzor Odigbo
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) umbrella body for all port workers has said that its decision to support the nationwide protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) with striking university workers, especially the Academic Staff Workers was in line with the premium it places on education in the country.
President-General of the union, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, who said after insinuations in some quarters that the union shunned the two-day solidarity strike, noted that apart from being a major affiliate of the NLC, which makes it obligatory for it to participate in the protest, Maritime Workers’ Union places a special premium in supporting and promoting education in Nigeria.
“Basically we support all the unions in the educational sector in their struggle to emancipate themselves from the clutches of a reneging government. Their call for government to come back to the negotiation table over the 2009 agreements is their legitimate right, which aims to put a closure to the issues in contention and enable our children to go back to school.
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“No right thinking parent would support that the public university workers in the country would be on strike for five months and still counting while the children waste away at home for such long period and the government keeps quiet as if nothing is happening. So we share in the pains of the university workers and the students and that was why we fully supported and participated in the protest”, the President General also said.
He disclosed that as early as 7am on the first day of protest, officials and members of the MWUN, all dressed in white stormed Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja in conjunction with the leadership and other members of NLC in Lagos where the protest kicked off for that first day.
Against the expectations of some people that seaport operations should have been shut down as a result of the protest, he clarified that the protest as directed by the parent body; the NLC was meant to be a peaceful protest to draw the attention of the government and the general public both locally and abroad on the need to address the issues that have led to the closure of the country’s public universities for five months and not to disrupt economic and social activities across the country.
Recall that the NLC had announced that it would embark on a two-day nationwide protest between July 26 and 27 to press home the need for the Federal Government to resolve the over five-month old strike especially by ASUU since February 14, 2022 to demand the implementation of an agreement reached with the government since October 2009.
Some of the demands of ASUU include the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Prof Nimi Briggs committee set up by the Federal Government itself, which were based on a renegotiated agreement with the striking ASUU and the immediate deployment of UTAS salary payment system.
The striking university teachers are also asking for adequate funding of Nigerian universities, checking the proliferation of public universities in the country by both the State and Federal Government, none of which is adequately funded to carry out researches, among several others.
Meanwhile, President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who has reviewed the nationwide solidarity protest, described it as very successful. He however warned that the union would embark on a three-day warning strike, which would cripple every aspect of the economy if Ministry of Education fails to resolve the strike as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
It was further gathered that the NLC and all its affiliate unions would embark on an indefinite strike and protest, which would be more severe than the END SARS protests should the government also fail to resolve the issues and allow the students return to school after the three-day warning strike