The Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin, Issa Aremu, has warned trade unions in Nigerian universities against the total shutdown of tertiary institutions during strike.
Aremu noted that there was a need for the unions to understand that industrial disputes were not industrial wars and no need for a total shutdown of the institutions.
He stated this at a colloquium organised by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Federal University of Technology, Akure chapter.
Aremu said, “You should imbibe the culture of social dialogue. Be prepared for compromise. You must not get what you always ask for. We never get an agreement through shutting down the factory. What is good in the private sector must be applied in the public sector.
“There must be industrial relations committee. We need to build capacity for all industrial relation actors. We need to have the skill to negotiate.
“Academic Staff Union of Universities does not operate as an industrial union. It was never transformed into an industrial union. We must know how to dialogue, and how to relate to get results. ASUU thinks they want to have it the way they want to have it.”
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of FUTA, Prof Adenike Oladiji, said her administration was committed to peace and a stabilised academic calendar, urging the unions to embrace peace to attract developmental growth to the institution and the nation.
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