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ASUU Strike Not Only On IPPIS, NLC President Say

November 17, 2020

President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking with journalists shortly after meeting with the Senator Smart Adeyemi-led Committee on Aviation.

The Nigeria Labour Congress has said that the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was not only on Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System but also the 2009 collective bargaining agreement.

President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking with journalists shortly after meeting with the Senator Smart Adeyemi-led Committee on Aviation.

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Wanna asked government to show enough commitment to resolve the issue of ASUU strike once and for all.

He said, "A lot of issues are contained in the agreement which has not been implemented. The process of dialogue is ongoing. We have tried to give our own side of how the issue could be resolved include giving inputs and writing of letters and we would continue to do that.

"The sooner it is resolved, the better for all of us because an idle mind certainly is a devil's workshop. Clearly speaking, I think it should be a priority if the issues are resolved so that we could get our wards back to schools."

 While commenting on the petrol price hike, the NLC President said, "We issued a comprehensive statement on the issue already.  What we said in that agreement is that all the palliatives must be implemented with time line and that has not been done.

"We have since communicated to government and our next line of action would also be communicated to Nigerians."

The NLC President, who also spoke on the Aviation Bill and the plot to remove 'Authority' from the name of FAAN, said, "We are here to shed more light on our position on the six bills before the Senate Committee on Aviation. The first item is about the provision in the law which tries to designate the aviation sector as an essential service.

"By our labour laws, which Nigeria is a signatory to, guarantees workers rights and core values. The sector cannot be designated as essential service because sectors that are designated as essential service are listed in the Nigerian labour law and the aviation sector was not part of it.

"All provisions relating to the issue of essential service into the six bills being considered for review especially section 29 of the civil aviation act should be expunged because it is actually in conflict with the existing provision of the labour law which is part of our international commitment to standards.

"The issue has been determined by the court that the aviation sector is not an essential service. I think the government is not aware of this,  that is why it included it in the law.

"The second issue is that it is the usual practice to have social partners in key organisations. We have not seen any provision in the bill where the key unions that would actually address issues of industrial relations, issues of professionalism, and workers core interest are not accommodated in the bills.

"The provision of the interim boards in the bills of aviation agencies is not in tandem with global best practices because at no point should we envisage that the board of such organisations would not be constituted. We were told that the boards were not constituted in the last four years due to conflict of interest. The use of interim board should certainly not be there."