The group said the federal government, through its action and approach, has taken Nigerians for granted and become a bully.
A workers’ union in Nigeria, All Workers Convergence (AWC), has described the government’s failure to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the ongoing strike as an invitation to revolution.
The group said the federal government, through its action and approach, has taken Nigerians for granted and become a bully.
It said the time was ripe to occupy all federal government secretariats across the country.
It said, “Some students have done well to organize pockets of protest nationwide. We call on Nigerians for more organized protest and collective strike in solidarity with ASUU. We call on Nigerians to occupy all federal government secretariats nationwide until the government meets up with the genuine demands of ASUU.
“These actions shall be immediate and spontaneous. Wherever we are across the federation, let's find our ways to the nearest federal government secretariat and occupy it.
“#OccupyAllFederalSecretariat to make government #AnswerASUU. Perhaps, when we shut down all federal government secretariats nationwide, let's see if the government will not answer ASUU. In Solidarity.”
The AWC in a statement by its coordinator and immediate past chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Oyo State Council, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, also expressed surprise that the government is not showing any sign of commitment to resolving the crisis.
According to the group, rather, the government is trying to bully its way to get what it wants by using different forms of intimidation.
The statement made available to SaharaReporters on Wednesday read, “No sane society will tolerate what we are accepting in Nigeria. While Nigerians patiently wait for the resolution of the lingering ASUU strike, we are surprised that our government is not showing any sign of commitment towards the resolution of the crisis, instead, the government is trying to bulldoze her way through different forms of intimidation thus acting like a bully.
“Instead of evolving rational ways to quickly resolve the imbroglio, the government has resorted to using unwarranted threats to compel the striking lecturers to call off the strike. Our government has been embarrassing herself through the unnecessary blackmail of ASUU and the unpopular court assertion that is being used to wanting to bully ASUU.
“In an attempt to continue to bully ASUU, our government has registered some industrial unions to counter ASUU. This to us is childish, funny, ridiculous and a confirmation that the government is not ready to resolve this crisis.
“Registering more industrial unions now also shows that our government is shameless and conscienceless. This act is defeatist and equally primitive. It shows clearly that the government lacks the sophistry to march up with ASUU. To also hear that Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour walked out on ASUU is regrettably a confirmation of the bully nature of the government replica of a jungle relationship totally lacking in civility.
“What the government does not know is that no responsible government will allow its ivory towers to be shut down for almost eight months. Our government is taking Nigerians for granted, and they are taking liberty for licence; the closure of our universities for this long is enough to steer a revolution.
“The way the government has handled the ASUU strike has fully shown that the government in Nigeria is a total failure and that nothing good can come from this government. Sometimes one is also compelled to believe that the government is deliberately prolonging the strike in order to kill public education in Nigeria.
“While we blame the government for the protracted strike, we will not but also blame ourselves for the poor public response towards this strike. Labour had earlier promised a nationwide sympathy strike but failed. The civil society was equally not able to call for a national action in support of ASUU.
“As a matter of fact, we have all acted as if it is normal to have this ugly situation. Even the response from students has been very conservative and reactionary, instead of calling on government to "ANSWER ASUU" our students were demanding for "END ASUU STRIKE PERMANENTLY".