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NLC issues four-week ultimatum to FG over tertiary institutions’ strike
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given the Federal Government a four-week deadline to conclude all ongoing negotiations with unions in the tertiary education sector or face a nationwide industrial action.
The NLC also criticised the Federal Government’s “no work, no pay” policy targeted at members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over their ongoing strike, describing it as punitive and counterproductive.
READ ALSO: NLC meets striking varsity lecturers
NLC President Joe Ajaero disclosed this during an interactive session with labour correspondents in Abuja. The session followed a meeting held between NLC leaders and representatives of various tertiary institution-based unions at the labour centre’s headquarters.
Ajaero stated, “We have decided to give the federal government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector. They have started talks with ASUU but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU.
“That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NEC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country will be involved so that we get to the root of all this.
“The era of signing agreements, negotiations and threatening the unions involved, that era has come to an end.
“The policy, the so-called policy of no work, no pay, will henceforth be no pay, no work. You can’t benefit from an action you instigated. We have discovered that most, 90% of strike actions in this country are caused by failure to obey agreements.”
Nigeria’s higher education sector has continued to experience instability, with the latest round of strikes leading to the shutdown of universities nationwide.
ASUU National President, Professor Chris Piwuna, confirmed the union’s decision to embark on an indefinite strike during a press conference at the University of Abuja on Sunday. The action followed the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum earlier issued to the Federal Government on September 28.
The union cited lingering issues, including unpaid salary arrears, inadequate infrastructure, staff welfare, and non-implementation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, as the basis for its action.
Although the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had earlier announced that talks were nearing completion — noting the government had released ₦50 billion for earned academic allowances and earmarked ₦150 billion in the 2025 budget for a needs assessment programme — ASUU rejected the proposals as insufficient.
The lecturers’ union insists on full implementation of the 2009 agreement, release of three and a half months of withheld salaries, adequate and sustainable university funding, protection against victimisation, settlement of outstanding promotions and arrears, and payment of withheld cooperative and union deductions.
Reaffirming its solidarity with the striking university unions, the NLC said it would mobilise full participation from all affiliated bodies if the government fails to act within the four-week window.
The labour body further called for adherence to collective bargaining principles and respect for the rights of workers, reiterating that “no pay, no work” would henceforth apply as a reciprocal stance to the government’s approach.
The emergency meeting convened by the NLC is expected to map out the next course of action for labour in defending the welfare of academic staff and preserving the stability and quality of Nigeria’s public tertiary education system.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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