The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a four-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclude all ongoing negotiations with unions in the tertiary education sector or face a nationwide industrial action involving all affiliate unions.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, announced the decision on Monday after an extensive meeting with representatives of university and polytechnic unions. He said the congress would work closely with the unions to ensure the implementation of existing agreements and to push for sustainable funding and fair remuneration across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
The ultimatum comes amid renewed tensions between the Federal Government and education unions — including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) — over unpaid allowances, withheld salaries, and poor infrastructure funding.
Ajaero criticised the government’s handling of past negotiations, warning that the NLC would no longer tolerate engagements where officials lacked the authority to make binding decisions.
“Henceforth, no trade union in the tertiary institutions or elsewhere will attend meetings with government officials who lack the mandate to make decisions. The era of signing agreements and threatening unions has come to an end,” he declared.
The NLC president also faulted the Federal Government’s “No Work, No Pay” policy against striking lecturers, insisting it would now be met with a “No Pay, No Work” response.
“You cannot cause a strike by failing to honour agreements and then punish those affected. That era is over,” Ajaero said.
He stressed that future engagements must produce actionable results rather than “empty promises” and revealed that the NLC had created a monitoring framework to track the implementation of all outstanding agreements and drive a national campaign for education reform.
Ajaero further noted that the congress would continue to advocate for compliance with UNESCO’s recommendation that nations allocate at least 25 to 26 percent of their annual budgets to education.
The warning comes amid fresh threats of industrial action from the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and other non-academic unions, who accuse the government of neglecting previously signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs).
Polytechnics and colleges of education have also expressed frustration over poor funding and delayed wage structure implementation, leaving the education sector on edge once again.
Concluding with a firm warning, Ajaero said:
“We have decided to give the Federal Government four weeks to conclude all negotiations in this sector. If after four weeks this negotiation is not concluded, the organs of the NLC will meet and take a nationwide action that all workers in the country, all unions in the country, will be involved.”
