LAGOS — Nigeria Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, weekend,
threatened stop distribution of petroleum
products across the country if the Federal
Government failed to implement the agreement
reached with the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU.
Though no specific date was fixed for the
commencement of the soliarity strike, the
union said the strike became necessary in view
of the lingering ASUU crisis which the
government had failed to resolve in the last
three months.
NUPENG President, Igwe Achese, who spoke at
the union’s National Administrative Council,
NAC, meeting, weekend in Lagos, said NUPENG
was not happy at the crisis facing public
university system in the country.
He blamed the crisis on government’s failure to
honour agreements, lamenting that this had led
to the proliferation of strikes in nearly all
sectors of the economy since the beginning of
the year.
According to him: “We appeal to government to
implement agreement reached with ASUU so
that students can go back to school. If the crisis
in the sector is not resolved, we will soon direct
our members to embark on solidarity strike.”
Achese blamed the Ministry of Labour for
failing in its responsibility to check the break-
down and abuse of laws governing industrial
relations practice in the country by employers
including government.
“The Ministry of Labour needs to be proactive if
we must get these issues nipped in the bud. The
ministry also needs to make sure that
agreements reached or communiqué signed are
implemented.
“The ministry has a big role to play to avert
strikes in the country. When unions begin to
lose faith in the ministry that is when we have
this kind of crisis. The labour minister should
be firm in making sure that the right decisions
are taken.
“As it is now, every activity in the Ministry of
Labour is in the office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, SGF, which
ought not to be so. The role of the SGF should
be to intervene only when the need arises.”
It would be recalled that the NUT last week
gave the Federal Government two weeks
ultimatum to honour the agreement it reached
with ASUU or face total shut-down of the
education sector in the country.
Source:vanguardngr.com