By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Members of the organised labour in kogi state, under the banner of the Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, on Tuesday, joined their counterparts through out Nigeria for peaceful demonstration in solidarity with striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU
The Reporters recalls that ASUU has been on strike since February 14,2022 over sundry issues bordering on their welfare and the need for proper funding of public universities in the country.
Our Correspondent who covered the demonstration reports that it kicked-off from Stella Obasanjo library and terminated at the Governnent House, Lokoja under the watchful eye of police and other security personnel.
The demonstrators, comprising various unions, students and other segments of population in the state capital,were seen singing solidarity song carrying banners of various inscriptions,led by the Vice Chairman of NLC in the state, Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo.
Handing over the letter from the national body of NLC to the Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja, for onward delivery to Governor Yahaha Bello, Eleojo stressed the need by governnent to do the needful in ending the five- month strike.
According to him,the peaceful demonstration, which preceded the mega rally slated for Abuja on July 27, is due to the non obsevance by the government over agreement it reached with ASUU.
The NLC state vice chairman, therefore, urged Governor Bello to use his office and conscience to convince the federal government to do the needful for the strike to end so that students could resume their studies.
Eleojo, expressed concern that the strike had paralysed education at the university level in the country with telling effects on other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Receiving the NLC letter from Eleojo, Governor Bello commended members of the organised labour for embarking on the peaceful demonstration, not for selfish interest but for the good of Nigeria and its future leaders.
The governor, who described the ASUU strike as an unpalatable development in the nation’s educational system,promised his continued intervention in conjunction with his colleagues to put pressure on the federal government to find lasting solution to the problem.
