The Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) has predicted that the strikes witnessed in the education sector in 2013 was not the end of industrial actions in the sector, as it would be hit by a barrage of strikes in all sub-sectors in 2014.
The union however notes that the strikes can be averted if the federal government, as a matter of urgency, begins to implement all its signed agreements with the various unions in the education sector. Majority of the agreements, NASU said, are already due for re-negotiation even though the contents of the subsisting agreements have not been fully addressed by the government.
The union also noted that the government seems to be distracted with the numerous political crises caused by politicians and has therefore not been able to concentrate on the need for stability and industrial peace.
Speaking to Thisday in an interview, General Secretary of NASU, Mr. Peters Adeyemi, said the events in the education sector in the out-gone year demonstrated the inability of the federal government to give effect to its own commitments and in several instances has gone back on its own words.
This, he added, resulted in the strikes that cut across the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), NASU, and unions in the research institutes and others.
The six-month ASUU strike, according to Adeyemi, could have been averted as the same steps that were taken to end the strike ought to have been taken before the commencement of the strike, such as the eventual deposit of the N200 billion intervention fund into a dedicated account and the payment of earned allowances.
He noted that Polytechnics have also been on strike for several months with Non-Academic Staff in Polytechnics and Colleges of Education also currently on strike, and nothing seems to be in the works to end the strikes.
“NASU in the polytechnics have been on strike for more than two months and the irony is that nobody has talked to any of the unions,” he said.
“NASU in the Colleges of Education has been on strike for more than one month, nobody is talking to us, not even to acknowledge the receipt of our letter, just recently, the lecturers in the Colleges of Education also started their own strike.”
“All these are pointers that government is clearly very insensitive and I think we are going to be out for even worse situation in 2014, unless government can very speedily address the issues that are contentious,” Adeyemi said.
“It looks to me as if because government appears to be pre-occupied with numerous crises; political crises generated by politicians, they are not able to concentrate on the need for stability and industrial peace. I do not see how they can manage both together, if they cannot ensure that there is industrial stability in the various institutions, the government is likely to be faced with barrage of negative comments even from the opposition to say that they are incapable of managing the government” he warned.
“Government should devise a system by which they can speedily look at all the issues that are outstanding right now with the unions and address them without necessarily waiting until strikes go into several months. Government needs to act fast in 2014; the strikes are not good for our country, and not good for the image of this government, a government that wants to be one of the world’s biggest economies by 2020.
“If you do not address and make sure education runs well, how do you attain that objective? When you talk about technological advancement and breakthrough, if your schools are not working, how do you get that? And if we wait until when Mr. President would now begin to hold 14 hours meeting, five hours meeting…how many Presidents devote such hours to meeting with unions and resolving crises? Why don’t we do what we need to do first?” he added.
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