ASUU

ASUU WITHHELD DUES: NLC SAYS FG REJECTED ASUU REPORT

Published

2 years ago

January 5, 2023

The Nigeria Labour Congress duly informed the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, of the decision of the ministry’s Office of the Registrar of Trade Unions to reject the four years audited reports of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, The PUNCH reports.

The PUNCH reports that ASUU had accused the Federal Government of withholding the November 2022 check-off dues of the union despite initial deductions from the source.

Confirming the development, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, told The PUNCH that the dues were withheld because of the failure of ASUU to submit the reports.

ASUU had insisted that the report was presented to the government.

To prove its claim, a member of the union’s National Executive Council, on Wednesday made a letter written by NLC available to our correspondent.

In the letter dated September 22, 2022, and addressed to Ngige, NLC noted that efforts by ASUU to submit the reports were truncated by the officials in the ministry.

The letter which was signed by NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, partly reads, “We understand that ASUU had responded to the directives of the Registrar of Trade Unions to submit its Annual Financial Reports and Audited Accounts within 72 hours. The Annual Financial Reports and Audited Accounts of ASUU as requested were submitted by ASUU to the Office of the Registrar of Trade Unions, Federal Ministry of Labour in less than 24 hours, specifically on September 8, 2022.

We are greatly alarmed that the timely submission of the annual financial reports and audited accounts by ASUU in accordance with the directives of the Registrar of Trade Unions was rejected by the staff members at the Office of the Registrar of Trade Unions. The staff members disclosed that they were under strict instructions not to accept ASUU’s annual financial reports and audited accounts.

“Later efforts to send the requested union’s financial documents by courier services were equally rejected by the Office of the Registrar of Trade Unions.”

The NLC, in the letter, claimed that the short notice given to ASUU to submit its reports at a time there were threats by the Registrar of Trade Unions to withdraw the union’s certificate of registration and the refusal to accept the same documents upon submission suggested: “a very sinister agenda which is capable of destroying the current general harmony in industrial relations in Nigeria.”

When our correspondent reached out to the spokesperson of the ministry, Oshundun, over the content of the letter by the NLC, he said he would investigate and get back to our correspondent.

He has not done so as of the time of filing this report.

Credit: Punch

ASUU

NLC, TUC, ASUU, Others Defy Court Order As They Begin Strike

Published

1 year ago

November 14, 2023

Pamilerin Fedpolygist

The NLC had on Monday announced the commencement of the industrial action from midnight of Monday, 13 November, in defiance to a restraining order issued by the National Industrial Court in Abuja on Friday.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and its affiliates including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Tuesday, began a nationwide strike, in defiance to a restraining court order barring them from embarking on the industrial action.

The two major labour unions, NLC and TUC, had declared the strike, following the brutalisation of the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, in Imo State on 1 November. Mr Ajaero was attacked in Owerri, the state capital, during an NLC protest against the Imo State government over alleged maltreatment of workers in the state.

The unions on Monday directed their members to down tools across the country as from Tuesday.

This is despite the restraining order issued by the National Industrial Court, in Abuja, on Friday, stopping the labour unions from embarking on the strike. The judge, Benedict Kanyip, ordered the two major labour unions to stop their industrial action scheduled to commence 14 November.

The interim order followed an ex-parte request by the Nigerian government through the office of Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, due to the Labour unions’ threat to embark on strike.

Ignoring the court order, ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, a professor of soil science, on Monday, directed compliance with the strike declaration in a letter to ASUU zonal coordinators and branch chairpersons across the country.

“As an affiliate of NLC, all members of our union are hereby directed to join this action of NLC to protect the interest of Nigerian workers and the leadership of the union. Zonal coordinators and branch chairpersons should immediately mobilise our members to participate in the action,” ASUU President, Mr Osodeke, wrote in a letter to zonal and branch chairpersons of the union.

When PREMIUM TIMES asked Mr Osodeke if he was aware of the subsisting court order stopping the strike, he said the question should be directed to the NLC which called for the strike.

“Call the NLC, ASUU did not declare a strike, NLC declared the strike. Call NLC,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning.

But the NLC’s head of information, Benson Upah, did not respond to phone calls and messages sent to his line requesting for comments, as of the time of filing this report.

The labour unions had, on Monday, refused to acknowledge the court order while directing their members to withdraw their services as from Tuesday.

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