A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, has slammed the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, for turning the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) into a personal banter.
Reacting on Tuesday while featuring a programme on Arise TV, Jega said Ngige is creating more problems than solutions.
The federal government of Nigeria has registered parallel unions in the academic community.
The unions are the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics, NAMDA, and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics, CONUA.
“Unfortunately, right now, the minister of labour is not helping matters. He has turned this into a personal quarrel between him and the minister of education on one hand and between himself and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the other,” Jega said.
“While many other people are trying to find a way of addressing this situation so that students can go back to school and ASUU can go back to work, he is busy creating challenges.
“He now took the matter to the industrial court, now today, he registered two unions and he is trying to proscribe ASUU.
“If this is allowed by this government, I think this is a recipe for disaster and it may really create more problems than it can solve on this matter of strike in the universities.”
ASUU has been on strike since February 2022 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, and a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
