Workers in Abia Protest, Demand Solution to ASUU Strike

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia 

Workers in Abia State turned out in their hundreds Tuesday to ptotest the intractable industrial dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities((ASUU) and the Federal Government, which is now in its sixth month.

The protest held at Okpara Square Umuahia attracted labour leaders and workers from the various industrial unions affiliated to NLC.

However, the existence of factions in Abia NLC rubbed off on the solidarity rally as it took different dimensions.

While many workers engaged in protest march, the Chairman of NLC Abia State Council, Comrade Uchenna Obigwe said that what was approved was for workers to hold a rally at a spot without embarking on a protest march due to the present security situation in the country.

He told journalists at the Abia NLC secretariat that the protest rally was justified as the bourgeois in the federal government have failed to resolve the ASUU issue because their children usually attend universities in foreign countries.

He said  that the attitude of the federal government to education had resulted to falling standard in public tertiary institutions to the extent that private universities have now taken the shine off the public schools.

The Vice chairman of NLC faction, Comrade Hope Ekwuribe, who addressed workers during the protest march,  said that what affects education affects everybody both the poor and rich. He said that the idleness imposed on students by the lingering ASUU strike had increased criminal activities across the country hence the federal government has no reason to be footdragging in resolving the impasse.

The angry workers singing solidarity songs and carrying placards bearing various inscriptions as they marched to government house where they were received by the Secretary to the State Government  (SSG), Mr. Chris Ezem.

The SSG, who represented Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, told the protesting workers that he was on the same page with NLC over the continued closure of Universities, adding that time has come for the federal government to resolve the matter with ASUU.