The House of Representatives said yesterday that immediate implementation of the previous agreements mutually reached between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is the panacea to checking incessant strikes in the nation’s ivory towers.
The lawmakers expressed concern over the on-going strike action by members of ASUU, which has paralysed academic activities of most public-owned universities and expressed dissatisfaction with the Presidency over its reluctance to transmit to the National Assembly the tripartite agreement on National Minimum Wage.
As a result, the lawmakers resolved that a joint ad hoc committee of National Assembly be constituted to investigate the remote and immediate causes of Tuesday’s industrial action by members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of the National Assembly (PASAN) and make appropriate recommendations to the two legislative chambers for appropriate action.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Sani Zoro (APC, Jigawa), who noted that threats of industrial action by organised labour in the face of the stalemate was caused by the failure to facilitate the due process needed for appropriate resolution of the dispute.
He said: ‘It is disturbing that members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of the National Assembly also picketed our two legislative chambers on Tuesday to draw attention to their grievances.
“The looming industrial action threatened by organised labour, with the potential of paralysing the nation’s socio-economic and political activities- and its attendant costs can be averted in consistence with National Assembly’s established tradition of intervention that have in the past helped to resolve many labour disputes.”
The motion was unanimously passed after a vote.