Interim government campaigner and former presidential candidate, Rev Chris Okotie, has warned that Nigerians should seek a permanent solution to incessant strikes rather than celebrate the end of the prolonged strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
“Labour unrest will persist like other perennial crises in the polity unless Aboriginal Democracy is put in place,” Okotie said in a statement released from his media office in Lagos on Thursday, and by his Media Adviser, Ladi Ayodeji.
Okotie said although he was pleased that the ASUU strike had ended, he did not foresee an end to the frequent labour disputes unless professional associations were given legislative responsibilities as contained in his interim government proposition.
According to Okotie, the professional bodies should, by virtue of their competence, make laws that govern their sphere of influence, meaning ASUU should make laws for education while the medical association does same for the health sector and so on, to engender economic stability.
“The challenges we have now is that a group of politicians congregate as legislature to be making laws in specialised areas they know little about. That’s the truth behind labour disputes in the country.
The Reverend predicted that after what looked like a brief period of peace in the educational sector, ASUU would commence another cycle of strike, like doctors, and other member-associations in the Nigerian Labour Congress. The musical chairs of strikes and negotiations would continue to destabilise our economy until Aboriginal Democracy is accepted as the new political order in Nigeria,” he added.
The PUNCH reported that ASUU suspended its eight-month old strike on Friday after its overnight National Executive Council Meeting. The union, however, noted that their demands were not fully addressed by the Federal Government.
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