The National President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Abdulwaheed Omar has stated that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) would soon be called off even as advised security agents to devise new strategies in tackling the security challenges facing the country.
Omar, who spoke in the same vein with Niger State Governor, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, at the 10TH Quadrennial Conference of the Nigeria Civil Service Union yesterday in Minna, decried 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.
The NLC president said: “The ASUU strike is a matter of concern to all of us. ASUU is an affiliate of the NLC; we held a meeting two days ago to reach an understanding; we are to meet the vice president.”
He explained that the congress was hoping to bring both parties together, saying that “very soon ASUU strike will be history.”
The NLC boss stated that the strike had reached the level it was because government does things with impunity.
“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 called on security agents to devise new strategies to check the security challenges facing the country, and 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.
“We cannot be in bondage unending, security agents should have a plan and engage modern technology to fight the insurgency and give the people a breathing space,” he stated.
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.
