Workers’ strike disrupts academic activities across Nigeria

Academic activities were disrupted on Monday as primary and secondary school teachers, and their counterparts in higher institutions joined the nationwide indefinite strike announced by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).

PREMIUM TIMES visited schools in many parts of the country including Lagos, Abuja, Bauchi and Ondo State and found that pupils in public schools were asked to return home as their schools were shut.

Students in tertiary institutions across the country, including those currently sitting examinations, were also locked out of their classrooms and libraries.

In one case, examinations were disrupted by members of the labour unions at the Ondo State School of Health Technology, Akure.

Earlier today, PREMIUM TIMES reported that unions in educational institutions including ASUU, SSANU, ASUP and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) directed their members to join the strike.

Students roam Abuja streets

At about noon on Monday, students were seen lurking around Wuse district in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), hours after they were asked to return home by their school authorities.

A student of Government Secondary School (GSS) Wuse, Zone 3, said she had heard that the strike was not going to be held before coming to school in the morning.

She said she had not gone home because her parents were not at home and that there was nothing for her to do at home.

“We heard that the strike had been called off this morning which is why I went to school, only for me to get to school, and we were sent back home till further notice because of the strike,” she said.

A student of Government Secondary School, Wuye, was also seen lurking around Wuse Zone 2 in her school uniform.

The student said she chose to stay around because her parents wouldn’t be at home until 2 p.m.

“I won’t meet anybody at home so there is no point in going home on time,” she said.

PREMIUM TIMES, however, gathered that only final-year students sitting the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) were allowed into the school premises.

An administrative staff at GSS Wuse Zone 3, Ezekiel Ejej, told our reporter that the strike announcement was communicated to the members of staff via the school Whatsapp platforms and so only a few of the teachers who didn’t receive the message came to school.

“Everyone is aware of the strike. Although it has been announced to the staff, we are yet to have a meeting on the situation. So for now, we are only going by the directives from above,” he said.

“We told the students that there is a national strike until further notice and told them to go back home, only SSS3 students are allowed in the school. For the ones who are still lurking around, I don’t know what to say about that because we have already instructed them to go home.”

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the LEA Primary School Lugbe A, it was deserted and the gate was under lock and key.

The only teacher present at the school, Blessing Oyiza, said she came around because she wanted to conduct extra lessons for some pupils.

She said the extra lessons are usually after normal school hours. However, since there was a strike she asked the parents to send them during the school hours.

Ms Oyiza said the teachers were informed on their WhatsApp platform that there would be a strike and that there would be no normal school activities.

“We are praying that the government should answer us because children sitting at home is not ideal. If they are to come back after say one week, it is just like restarting the lessons. Students sitting at home is not good,” she said.

At the Junior Secondary School, Wuse Zone 2, an administrative staff member, Ahmed Rufai, told our reporter that he came to school without monitoring the news and was not aware that the strike had been declared.

“When I got to the school this morning, I heard that the strike is now official,” he said.

Mr Rufai said only a few teachers came around, though many students came to school as they were also not aware of the strike.

“It was announced to them that they should all return home and that there was a strike until further notice. As you can see everyone has gone home, it’s just me and one other admin staff that is around,” he added.

Lagos

Just like in Abuja, pupils in Lagos public schools were sent back home as soon as they got to the school premises.

At the Iba Housing Estate Secondary School in Ojo Local Government Area, for instance, PREMIUM TIMES found empty classes. This newspaper gathered that students in the junior and senior categories except the SS3 students were sent back home.

Trading stalls within the school were also found empty.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the SS3 are presently taking the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The examination board had said that the ongoing exercise continues irrespective of the strike.

Tertiary institutions are not left out

Members of the NLC and TUC disrupted an ongoing examination at the Ondo State School of Health Technology, Akure on Monday while enforcing the nationwide strike.

The institution began its second-semester exams for the students last week and continued with some of the courses on Monday.

According to a student simply identified as Titilope, students had just started the examination when members of the labour unions came in and “scattered everything”.

“We were not allowed to finish our paper. It is our second-semester exams,” the student said.

The students were seen walking away from the school premises after the disruption.

UDUS

PREMIUM TIMES also gathered that the strike has affected academic activities at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, (UDU) Sokoto.

In UDUS, students were locked out of the university library on Monday even though examinations are currently ongoing.

However, the strike did not affect the ongoing examinations which started on 28 May, one student, Bilyaminu Manne, told PREMIUM TIMES.

But members of the non-academic staff have downed tools, he said.

“A woman who works there told us when we were waiting for the staff that the cashiers are on strike, they are not coming. When I checked the office in charge of issuing notification of results around 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., it was also locked,” the student said.

He added that the university library where students study was not open on Monday, forcing students to go study elsewhere.

ATBU

Helen Yakubu, a final-year student of Computer Science at ATBU noted that the strike has affected the submission of her final-year project proposal.

“The school is practically shut down at the moment till further notice,” she said.

“We were supposed to submit our project topic proposal but the strike has affected it.

She said there’s currently no electricity in the hostels. “Though they pumped water but if this water should finish and the strike is still on, it will take the grace of God for them to pump it again.”

Strike

The labour unions directed the indefinite strike beginning today (Monday) to protest the continuous impasse with the Nigerian government as regards the negotiations of a new minimum wage to replace the current N30,000 that took effect in 2019.

The labour leaders insisted that the cost of living has skyrocketed and therefore refused to shift grounds on the N494,000 they demanded as minimum wage. However, the government said the amount proposed by the labour leaders is unsustainable and is instead proposing N60,000. After weeks of negotiations without reaching a middle ground, the labour unions decided to down tools.

The strike has affected virtually all sectors of Nigerian society. Flights are grounded at airports, banks are shut for transactions, citizens are experiencing power outages across the country and students are shut out of their classrooms.