STRIKES
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) extended its ongoing strike by eight weeks from 14th March to 6th May. The strike is over the refusal of the Federal Government to implement the Memorandum of Agreement reached with ASUU to end its nine month strike in December 2020. This includes: • Funding for revitalisation of tertiary institutions • Payment of outstanding earned academic allowances • Renegotiation of 2009 agreement • Review of NUC 2004 Act to tackle proliferation of universities • 26 per cent budgetary allocation to education sector • Implementation of the UTAS payroll system • Release and implementation of visitation panel reports • Payment of withheld salaries and check off dues.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) declared a two-week warning strike from 28th March, this was further extended by one month from midnight of Sunday, 24th April 2022. The main demands, similar to ASUU, are to re-negotiate the 2009 agreement; payment of earned allowances; payment of minimum wage arrears and the funding of state universities.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has promised to organise a three day strike after national protests if the government does implement the demands of the universities’ strikes within 21 days. It also called on its affiliates to issue public statements supporting the strikes in the universities.
TPAP-M issued a press release in support of the university strikes in on 16th April. It said “We urge and call upon the NLC, and all the unions in public funded education in Nigeria – ASUU, SSANU, NASU, NAAT, ASUP, COEASU, NUT, etc., to close ranks and together establish a Joint Action Committee of Unions in the Education Sector.”
The strike by the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions (JORAISU) – composed of NASU and SSAUTHRIAI) continued with their indefinite strike, now lasting approaching seven months. Workers in the 67 research institutes nationwide are on strike over the failure by the Federal Government to fully implement an agreement reached with the unions in 2010. Workers of the National Institute of Trypanosomiasis Research (NITR), Kaduna organised a protest on 11th April.
PROTESTS
1 April: Three vehicles were set ablaze by angry youths protesting against the killing of a commercial motorcyclist by a suspected smuggler in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State. The incident left motorists stranded on the old Lagos-Abeokuta expressway for about an hour. 13 youths were arrested.
2 April: Travellers along the Kaduna-Abuja highway were stranded following a protest by trailer drivers over alleged harassment by a soldier. The trailer drivers blocked the Sabon Gaya area, causing gridlock on the expressway.
4 April: Some youths, who gathered under the aegis of the Angry Youth Movement, brought traffic at the Berger end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to a standstill over what they described as “untenable state of affairs” of the country. The protesters said the roadblock was in response to bad governance that plunged them into an “unprecedented level of hardship.”
5 April: The people of Emede community in the Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, on Tuesday, protested against the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, for allegedly stalling the graduation of a member of the community, Mr Philip Otobha, since 2014.
5 April: Activities at the Rumuola office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company were paralysed during a protest by nine communities over a power outage running into two years.
6 April: Angry youths and women stormed Plateau State Government House in Jos to protest the continued killings by gunmen in different parts of the state. The protesters included hundreds of youths, women, and the Christian Association of Nigeria.
7 April: Family members of passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train that was attacked on March 28, 2022, staged a protest at the venue of a ministerial press briefing organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja. They called on the release of their kidnapped family members.
7 April: 2,000 street cleaners engaged by Gombe State Government, barricaded the entrance to the State House in protest against their “unlawful layoff.” The protesters are staff of INEX cleaners, the contractor cleaning the state. They were promised to be absorbed by the state, but the forms were sold to them for N2,000.
8 April: Youths, led by the Osun Police Watch Group and other Civil Society Organisations blocked vehicular movement at the Olaiya Junction in Osogbo over the killing by the police of one Abiola who died in a hospital from police gunshot to his leg in the process of arrest.
11 April: Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria took their protest to the National Human Rights Commission to call on the Federal Government to release the passports of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat nine months after they were cleared of all charges.
16 April: Scores of women from Umuoma-Nekede in the Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State Saturday marched around the community in protest. The women were protesting against the high level of drug-related activities in the community.
16 April: One person was shot at Iloro Area of Ife, Osun State, when some youths protesting the death of one Olufemi Oriyomi, in detention, clashed with police.
20 April: Pensioners in Rivers State occupied the state secretariat over their unpaid gratuity and pension arrears running into seven years. They ended the protest at Government House, saying the current state government has not paid gratuity, pension arrears, and other entitlements since it came on board in 2015.
21 April: Some staff of a Lebanese company, Buildwell Plants & Equipment Industries Limited, at Magboro, Ogun State, protested over poor salaries and treatment by the firm. Allowances and salaries had not been increased for years.
21 April: Youths of Ntueke Community in the Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo state blocked the Akokwa- Okwelle highway in protest at the police shooting of Dike, a youth leader, having accused him of being a member of the Eastern Security Network.
21 April: Resident doctors at the Jos University Teaching Hospital held a street protest over the level of insecurity in the country, saying that the situation is affecting their performance and two of their members were abducted in the past three weeks.
21 April: Abia State health workers protested over the non-payment of salaries for over 12 months.
24 April: There was a protest at Kajola Community in Odigbo Local Council of Ondo State as youths mobilised to burn the police station in the area over the death of three people, including a community leader, at the police checkpoint along Lagos/Benin Expressway on Saturday evening.
25 April: The Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) mobilised other stakeholders in the country’s education sector to demand “immediate reopening of Nigerian universities.” Other participants in the protest included representatives of the National Parent-Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), among others. They carried placards with inscriptions that included “Save education from total collapse,” “Fund education adequately,” “No to sexual harassment”.
25 April: Some Muslims from different local government areas of Lagos State protested against the doubling of the hajj fare.
25 April: Protests were held outside the court where Chinyere Emeka-Atu, has been accused of defrauding traders and market women of over N600m in Lagos State. Members were to pay N9,000 every month with the promise of a return of N200,000 cash and N90,000 worth of foodstuffs after nine months of investments in the association’s scheme.
27 April: Pensioners in Abia State, protested the non-payment of pensions and gratuities by the state government. They embarked on a two-day state-wide protest to demand the payment of their 38 months of pension arrears, 20 years of gratuities, and non-harmonisation of pensions from 1998 to 2010.
28 April: Protests grounded the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, Delta State, as hundreds of casual workers protest inside the company against the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. Their demands included conversion from casual to permanent staff, salary increases, payment of all outstanding allowances.
- The Peoples Alternative Political Movement (T-PAPM) calls for assistance from all workers and activists to, in order to ensure that this monthly report is comprehensive, submit details of any strikes or other protests in the states, local governments or communities to: tpapsnigeria@gmail.com
T-PAPM states that these strikes and protests need the support and solidarity of all workers and the labour movement in general. It therefore calls on all trade union branches to send messages of support and to organise solidarity visits to any strikes in their localities.
