Follow Us on Google
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embrace dialogue as a potent way of ending the protracted strike that shut down academic learning at various varsities.
The Vice President made the appeal on Sunday at the 2022 Workers’ Day celebrations in Abuja.
According to him, the strike has a devastating impact on parents and society as they are plagued by thoughts of an uncertain future as they stay home because their universities have been shut by industrial action.
“I appeal to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the broader labour community to seek the path of dialogue. Disagreement and debate have always been part of the relationship between labour and the government. Even as we disagree today, we must not do so as mortal adversaries but as members of the same progressive family. We both want the same thing – a country that works for all and offers each citizen a fair deal – even if occasionally we differ on how to achieve this goal. But at all times, we have through dialogue found a path forward.
“It in this spirit that I call on ASUU to embrace dialogue with the Government and I call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to help facilitate a resolution of this dispute through dialogue. I believe that we can find a path forward in good faith. And this is what we will do”, Osinbajo stated.
He revealed that the Buhari administration has pursued various progressive agenda for inclusion and social protection in a period of global turbulence.
“We have not had the benefit of record-high oil prices to work with; instead we have had to contend with recessions, the collapse of international oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic which stalled the global economy and even now, we must deal with the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine which is having a disruptive impact on global commodity markets. Regardless of all these challenges, this administration has been steadfast in tackling the issues facing Nigerian workers.
“This is why President Buhari implemented an increase in the national minimum wage in 2019.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 practically brought the world to a standstill. As we battled to contain the spread of the corona virus here in Nigeria, almost all economic activity was grounded. But we understood the dangers that portended to our citizens and to our general economy. That is why during the pandemic, the Federal Government placed Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) employees on payroll support to get them through the period, as part of its Economic Sustainability Plan.
We introduced the food for jobs agricultural programme. Providing support for over 4 million farmers. We started the most ambitious social housing programme in our nations history , 300,000 homes at N2m. As part of the same Economic Sustainability Plan we started the solar Naija programme to connect 5million homes with solar power.
“We set up the MSME Survival Fund which disbursed over N56.8 billion to over 800, 000 people. The Fund also provided grants, free business registration and payroll support to over 1 million artisans, micro and small business owners.
“We have increased the retirement age of teachers so that they can spend more years in service educating our children. Recently, we implemented an upward review of the salaries and wages of the men and women of the Nigeria Police Force as part of our broader commitment to improving the welfare and service conditions of those charged with safeguarding the rest of us”, he added.
