STRIKES
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since 14th February. They have not been paid since the end of February. ASUU made its strike indefinite from 29th August. 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 and includes the following demands:
- Finalisation of re-negotiation of the 2009 Agreement
- Establishing visitation panels and publication of their results
- Replace the Integrated Payment Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with UTAS
- Funding of University and Tertiary Education Sector
- Earned Allowances for both Academic and Non-Academic Staff of Nigeria’s Universities
- End the proliferation of state universities without proper funding
- Payment of lecturers’ withheld salaries since March 2022.
Student unions and trade union branches should send messages of support to: Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President – president@asuu.org.ng
Chris Piwuna, ASUU Vice President – piwuna01@gmail.com
Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff
Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) suspended their strike for two months from 20th August. The strike had lasted for nearly five months from 28th March and they had not been paid for July and August.
National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) suspended their strike action in the tertiary sector for three months from 25th August, 2022.
Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) suspended their nine-week strike on 10th August.
The strike by the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions (JORAISU) continues. This involves members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI). The indefinite strike has now lasted nearly ten months having started on 13th October, 2021. 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. Trade union branches should send solidarity messages via WhatsApp to the President (08030933357) or Secretary (08037056585) of JORAISU.
AUPCTRE members at the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) threatened to shut down all public cemeteries if their demands were not met. The three-day warning strike started on 16th August over the failure of the FCT Administration to implement a new salary structure.
Electricity workers under the joint umbrella of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEC) embarked on a strike on 17th August. They picketed various offices including the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Kaduna Regional station that covers the four northwestern states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. Power distribution was halted completely across the entire South-East States and other areas of the country. The electricity union was protesting the non-payment of outstanding arrears owed to former workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and other issues. The strike was suspended, after eight hours, in the evening after a meeting with the Minister of Labour & Employment.
Members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Enugu State went on strike from 28th July. The strike is over the failure to pay the N30,000 minimum wage consequential adjustment. The strike was suspended on 26th August. The arrears are to be paid from the August salary.
The Joint Union Congress of the Police Service Commission commenced an indefinite strike from August 29 over the management of the Commission and the role of the Chair. Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) and Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) previously there was a 3-day warning strike from 24 January, 2022.
PROTESTS
8th August: Aggrieved Okada drivers in Federal Capital Territory protested, on Airport Road, Abuja, against the impounding of their motorcycles. Participants blocked the road at Centenary City, with placards and heavy stones.
15th August: Staff and stakeholders of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, besieged the commission’s premises in Port Harcourt over the proposed staff audit at the Commission.
18th August: Women of Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State, protested at the Oroni flow station operated by Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited. They complained against the incessant gunshots and oil bunkering activities. The pollution of their farmlands, water and air is adversely impacting their health.
20th August: over a thousand special Constables in Ilorin, Kwara State, staged a protest in police uniforms. They claimed that they had not been paid since their training finished in April 2021.
22nd August: Police seal the National Secretariat of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) in Yaba, Lagos. Members of ASCSN had taken over the offices to protest against an alleged N10b fraud by some top officials of the union. The offices remained sealed until at least the end of the month.
23rd August: Women’s groups protest against the suspension of the Lagos regulations on safe abortion. Over 150 women groups from various rights and civil society organisations took to the streets of Alausa, Ikeja protesting the continued delay in lifting the suspension of the guide to safe termination of pregnancy. The guide was suspended on July 8th 2022.
