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By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has accused the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) of suppressing trade unionism and victimisation of its members, warning of an imminent nationwide strike if the examination body fails to reverse its actions.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, NASU’s General Secretary, Peters A. Adeyemi, condemned WAEC’s refusal to implement a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on March 10, 2025, at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. He described WAEC’s actions as a deliberate attempt to undermine the union.
“If WAEC fails to comply within seven days, NASU will initiate legal proceedings, mobilise for nationwide industrial action, notify the Federal Ministry of Labour and other authorities, escalate the matter to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and commence a total strike action effective Monday, March 24, 2025,” Adeyemi stated.
According to him, the dispute stemmed from WAEC’s refusal to resume the deduction and remittance of NASU’s check-off dues, despite the March agreement. “Instead, WAEC issued an internal memo on March 14, 2025, imposing an additional requirement for individual consent, which NASU insists was not part of the agreement.” The union argues that this violates Section 5(3)(a) of the Labour Act, which mandates employers to deduct and remit union dues without requiring further consent from employees.
WAEC’s management has also been accused of planning to transfer NASU branch leaders in its Yaba headquarters as a retaliatory measure for a four-day strike in December 2024. That strike, which protested WAEC’s failure to fully implement a salary review, resulted in an agreement to increase staff salaries by 27.5 percent. However, NASU claims the management has since targeted union leaders in response.
Adeyemi described WAEC’s moves as “a clear case of victimisation against workers for exercising their constitutional right to belong to a trade union.” He added that the management’s decision to stop check-off dues was a strategy to financially weaken NASU.
NASU outlined several demands, including the immediate withdrawal of WAEC’s March 14 memo, full implementation of the March 10 MoU, an end to all forms of victimisation and compliance with labour laws protecting trade union rights. The union warned that failure to meet these demands would trigger a coordinated industrial action across all WAEC offices.
“WAEC must immediately reverse its unlawful actions and comply with the signed MoU. Failure to do so will result in massive and sustained industrial action to defend workers’ rights,” Adeyemi declared.
