ASUU Strike: Kwara NLC Join National Solidarity Rally

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By Kayode Abdulazeez

The Kwara state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday joined its National body in a solidarity rally in support of the striking, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

The rally kickstarted at the NLC state secretariat, Ilorin, with participants carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “There is only one way forward, honour our agreement, National protest to get our children back to school amongst others.

They went around the Ilorin metropolis, starting from the NLC secretariat besides the state High Court, to the Post Office, Challenge, Unity Round About and Government House on Ahmadu Bello Way, where the leadership of the union submitted a letter to the state government.

Speaking with Journalists at the NLC Secretariat in Ilorin, the Kwara State Chairman of the NLC, Comrade Aliyu Isa-Ore said the rally was organised in solidarity with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU members to press home their demand on the need for the federal government to honour their agreement.

He said “the federal government had signed an agreement with ASUU some year back on University revitalisation and other sundry issues and not yet fulfilled the agreement”

Comrade Isa-Ore added that if the federal government refuse to head to their demand after the rally, the Union will go on a three-day warning strike.

Also speaking the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Ilorin, Professor Moyosore Ajao.

“Let the government tell us which of our demands are not legitimate. We have the right to ask for what we deserve.

“Is it our salary that has not increased over the last Thirteen years or our demand for government to make infrastructure available?.

“We are not robots. Treat us like humans and save our children from idleness at home” he said.

Added that the struggle belongs to the entire nation and not ASUU alone.

“No nation can grow beyond its intellectual capacity. Nigeria’s education deserves a renaissance.

Ajao also called for the enacting of a law to ban Nigerians from schooling abroad to allow growth in Nigeria’s educational system.