The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a strong warning to the Federal Government to resolve all ongoing issues with university-based unions within four weeks or face a nationwide industrial action involving all workers across the country.
Speaking during an interactive session with labour correspondents on Monday in Abuja, NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the union will no longer watch in silence while academic staff and students suffer due to the government’s failure to honour agreements and implement fair policies in the tertiary education sector.
The meeting came after discussions between the NLC leadership and representatives of all unions in the country’s tertiary institutions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), among others.
Ajaero said the Federal Government had already begun talks with ASUU but stressed that the problems facing Nigeria’s tertiary education system go far beyond ASUU alone. According to him, other unions in the sector also have pending issues that must be urgently addressed.
“We have decided to give the Federal Government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector,” he said. “They have started talks with ASUU, but the problem in this sector goes beyond ASUU.”
“That is why we are extending this to four weeks. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NLC National Executive Council (NEC) will meet and take a nationwide action. All workers in the country, all unions will be involved, so we get to the root of this matter,” Ajaero warned.
The NLC also strongly criticised the Federal Government’s implementation of the “no work, no pay” policy, which it used to punish ASUU members during their last nationwide strike. Ajaero described the policy as unfair and provocative, especially since most strikes are caused by the government’s refusal to honour signed agreements.
He said labour would no longer tolerate such policies and threatened a new approach: “no pay, no work.”
According to him, “The era of signing agreements, negotiations, and then threatening the unions involved — that era has come to an end.
“The so-called policy of no work, no pay will henceforth be no pay, no work. You can’t benefit from an action you instigated,” he said.
Ajaero added that over 90 percent of strike actions in Nigeria are caused by the government’s failure to keep its own promises. He accused the authorities of deliberately provoking unions by abandoning signed agreements, forcing workers to take industrial actions.
Nigeria’s university system has been plagued by repeated strike actions in recent years, largely driven by poor funding, lack of facilities, unpaid allowances, and failure of the government to honour various agreements signed with unions.
ASUU, the most prominent of these unions, embarked on an eight-month strike in 2022, crippling academic activities across federal and some state universities. The strike was eventually suspended under pressure, but many of the issues raised by ASUU remain unresolved.
The situation has caused major disruptions to the academic calendar and left thousands of students stranded. It has also increased calls for education reform and better treatment of academic and non-academic staff in Nigeria’s public universities.
The NLC’s fresh ultimatum signals a renewed push to protect the interests of workers in the education sector and may lead to broader industrial action if the government fails to act.
If a nationwide strike is declared, it could shut down key sectors of the economy and increase pressure on the Bola Tinubu-led administration to act swiftly on the education crisis.
Ajaero highlighted that the NLC is ready to mobilise all affiliated unions to ensure the government addresses the root causes of the constant breakdown in university education.
“For us, we are tired of lip service. We are tired of negotiations that go nowhere. We want real solutions, not empty promises,” he said.
As of press time, the Federal Government is yet to officially respond to the NLC’s ultimatum.
