By TINA TIMOTHY

The Workers and Youths Solidarity Network (WYSN) has given its full support to the recent nationwide protests declared by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) over their unpaid arrears.

While tasking the Federal Government to urgently meet the demands of SSANU and NASU as well as demanding “proper funding of the education sector,” WYSN’s Secretary, Comrade Iortyom Moses, in a statement on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, also accused the federal government of running a capitalist system “that is responsible for not properly funding the education sectors that are important to the vast majority of the people, in order to save funds for looting.”

The statement reads: ”Workers and Youth Solidarity Network extend solidarity with the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities and Non-Academic Staff Association of Education and Associated Institutions, we support the demands of SSANU and NASU. We call on the federal government to meet the demands of the unions so that industrial crises can be averted.

“To us in WYSN, we believe that the federal government is guilty of stopping arrears of workers who were forced to embark on a strike to demand improved working conditions and other demands. If the government is responsible and quickly responds to demands of education workers, such long months of strikes that resulted in the federal government stopping their salaries would be prevented.

“Unfortunately, we are back to square one again. University workers on Sunday declared a nationwide protest. The NASU and SSANU unions have instructed their members to organise simultaneous nationwide protest on July 9, 2024, across all state chapters, with a follow-up national protest scheduled in Abuja on July 18, 2024, as stated in a message addressed to all branch chairmen of the respective unions over their 4 months withheld salaries.

“According to the statement issued by the joint action committee of the two unions, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, said that their meeting with the government representatives has collapsed.

“The statement makes it clear that the government has failed to listen to the plight of the workers despite the fact that the unions have been having an intensive meeting with the minister of education but all to no avail.

“The circular read, “The National body of the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU met on Thursday, 4^th July, 2024 to appraise and take position on the current situation in respect of the withheld four months’ salaries and other grievances of our members in University and Inter-University Centres.

“Similarly, the National JAC on invitation met with the Honourable Minister of Education; Honourable Minister of State for Education; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education; other top officials of the Ministry and National Universities Commission (NUC).

“Unfortunately, the engagement with the Minister of Education has not shown any convincing commitment on the payment of the withheld salaries and resolutions of other pending grievances of JAC of the two unions.”

The group further argued that “there is no future under capitalism as it is a system of greed where people prefer to build private universities that will be out of the reach of the poor over proper funding of public education” and subsequently called on all labour unions, students, other education workers, civil society groups and the masses to support the strike, adding that government has enough resources to fund free, functional, and quality education at all levels,

The statement continues: ”Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN) support the struggle of the university workers who are demanding full payment of the backlog of their salaries. As we always argue, there is no future under capitalism as it is a system of greed where people prefer to build private universities that will be out of the reach of the poor over proper funding of public education.

“We call on all the masses to support the strike and join us in demanding better welfare for the education workers and all Nigerian workers. As we write, despite the economic hardship in Nigeria, the federal government refused to announce the new minimum wage.

“WYSN believes that the government has enough resources to fund free, functional, and quality education at all levels, even beyond the current demands of the education sector unions for a one-off funding intervention in the sector. Less than 10,000 political appointees are defrauding this country through their outrageous remuneration and contracts system. The same government rushes to buy cars for legislators, their political cronies and others affiliated to them one way or the other.

“The Workers and Youth Solidarity Network hold that the capitalist system that this country runs is responsible for most of the government’s out-of-place priorities that is responsible for not properly funding the education sectors that are important to the vast majority of the people, in order to save funds for looting. We call on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to support these protests until victory. We call on other education workers and civil society groups like the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and the National Association of Nigeria students to support these strikes and join in solidarity until their demands are met.”

According to WYSN, “all sectors of Nigeria are presently in comatose” hence improvement in worker’s welfare can only win permanent victory when capitalism ends and is replaced by a “pro people’s government armed with socialist policies.”

“All sectors of Nigeria are presently in comatose. Queues at filling stations have returned. This year alone, Nigeria power sector has witnessed collapse of national grid four times, this why the struggle against education underfunding and improvement in worker’s welfare can only win permanent victory when connected with the general struggle of the working class to put an end to capitalism and enthrone a workers and pro people’s government armed with socialist policies,” WYSN stated.

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