Ngige Writes NLC Over ASUU Strike

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has argued that Nigerian university teachers do not pay loyalty to the Labour Act as it concerns conciliation.

Naija News reports that the Minister said this while urging the Nigeria Labour Congress to call the Academic Staff Union of Universities to order over its industrial actions.

Ngige who spoke yesterday in Lagos at the opening ceremony of the 2022 edition of the National Labour Advisory Council, said the ongoing strike was not appropriately instituted.

The Ministry accused ASUU of not giving adequate notice before proceeding on strike.

He said: “So, I’m using this opportunity to plead with the NLC, to which ASUU is affiliated, to call them to order, make them obey the law, to let them know what the Trade Disputes Act says and as university teachers who are even teaching industrial law, to abide by the law.

“They should call off that strike. That strike is not appropriately instituted. I’ve conciliated and made sure the issues in disputes have been decisively been dealt with.’’

Speaking further at the event, Ngige said the Nigeria Medical Association is also not a trade union and the National Association of Resident Doctors is not a trade union, Naija News reports.

“They’re associations of workers”, the minister noted.

“The university teachers are registered under the Academic Staff Union of Universities and are affiliated to the Nigerian Labour Congress, but that affiliation is only in name. It’s not indeed, because they don’t obey the Labour Act as it concerns conciliation,” Ngige stressed.