Workers Strikes & Protests during July 2022

We need your assistance to ensure that this monthly report is comprehensive.  Please submit details of any strikes or other protests in your state or community to tpapsnigeria@gmail.com   All these strikes and protests need our support and solidarity. We call on all trade union branches to send messages of support and to organise solidarity visits to any strikes in their localities.

STRIKES

We need your assistance to ensure that this monthly report is comprehensive. Please submit details of any strikes or other protests in your state or community to tpapsnigeria@gmail.com  All these strikes and protests need our support and solidarity. We call on all trade union branches to send messages of support and to organise solidarity visits to any strikes in their localities.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on indefinite strike since 14th February. They have not been paid since the end of February. ASUU last extended the strike by four weeks from 1^st August. The strike is over the refusal of the Federal Government to implement the Memorandum of Agreement reached with ASUU to end its nine month strike in December 2020. This includes:

• Re-negotiation of the 2009 Agreement;
• Challenges with the implementation of the Integrated Payment Payroll Information System (IPPIS);
• Funding of University and Tertiary Education System; and
• Earned Allowances for both Academic and Non-Academic Staff of Nigeria’s Universities.

Student unions and trade union branches should send messages of support to:
Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President – president@asuu.org.ng
Chris Piwuna, ASUU Vice President – piwuna01@gmail.com

The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) declared a two-week warning strike from 28th March. This was last extended by another two months from 21^st June. The main demands, similar to ASUU, are to re-negotiate the 2009 agreement; payment of earned allowances and the funding of state universities. Trade union branches should send solidarity messages via WhatsApp to the NASU Secretary (08037056585).

National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have also been on strike since March with similar demands to the other education trade unions.

Members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) started a four week warning strike from Tuesday, 14th June. The strike was extended for another three weeks on 19^th July. The challenges causing the strike include:

• non-implementation of the consequential effect of CONPCASS, 15 on lower cadre since 2014
• the non-implementation of the 2014 needs assessment report in Colleges of Education
• non-payment of outstanding promotion arrears
• non-payment of responsibility allowance to Librarians in Colleges of Education
• poor funding of Colleges of Education and poor condition of state-owned Colleges of Education
• implementation on the IPPIS payroll system.

The strike by the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions (JORAISU) continues. This involves members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) and the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI). ASURI suspended its involvement in the strike from 5^th May. The indefinite strike has now lasted nearly nine months having started on 13^th October, 2021. Workers in the 67 research institutes nationwide are on strike over the failure by the Federal Government to fully implement an agreement reached with the unions in 2010. Trade union branches should send solidarity messages via WhatsApp to the President (08030933357) or Secretary (08037056585) of JORAISU.

MHWUN, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) branch embarked on an indefinite strike from June 22. Its demands include immediate approval of additional allowances and full payment of 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 promotion arrears, among others. Staff of the relevant trade unions also joined the research institutes strike from 8^th July. The strikes was suspended on 1 August, 2022.

Joint Action Committee Academic and Non Academic Staff Unions in Bauchi State Tertiary institutions, on 15^th July, declared a 14-day warning strike effective from 19th July, 2022 over salary arrears, consequential adjustments of minimum wage, promotions and annual increments.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) members at Addax went on strike from 29th July. This was after the Chinese owned company lost its Federal Government licence to operate and refused to engage with the trade union.

Organized Labour in Ogun State suspended its 4-day old strike on 1^st August.

PROTESTS

5^th July: Relatives of those kidnapped from the Abuja-Kaduna train on 28^th March held protests in Abuja and Kaduna.

5th July: protests in Onitsha along Onitsha-Asaba Road, Anambra State, by lorry drivers over action by revenue collectors.

6th July: protesters, mainly women block the road to the Agip facility in Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State. The blockade was maintained at least until the end of the month. The protest is over the lack of infrastructural development and employment for local people. 

9th July: youths of Oyi Local Council of Anambra State over land grabbers and against being labelled ESN.

12^th July: commercial drivers in Anambra State hold a protest over a new monthly license fee of N25,000.

20th July: Association of Deaf in Imo State protested the demolition of its secretariat in Owerri by state officials. The protestors went to Government House and met with the Chief of Staff.

25^th July: Relatives of those kidnapped from the Abuja-Kaduna train protest at the Ministry of Transportation, Abuja.

25th July: hundreds of women and youths of Oguta local government area, Imo State, staged a protest, calling for the government Ebubeagu security outfit to be banned from operating in Oguta. They said a youth was killed the day before. At least seven others were killed in Oru West Local Government Area the week before. Two-day mass protests were held by all the communities in Oru West who barricaded the Owerri/Onitsha road. 

26^th July: Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) organised protests in all 36 state capitals in solidarity with the strikes since February across the tertiary education sector (see above). See photos of these protests – https://socialistlabour.com.ng/2022/07/28/photos-speak-trade-union-protests-in-every-state-solidarity-with-education-strikes/  

27^th July: Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) organised a major protest in Abuja in solidarity with the education strikes. The protest started at Unity Gardens and entered the grounds of the National Assembly.

28^th July: protest outside the Nigerian embassy, Dublin, Ireland over the death sentences for three gay men by a Sharia court in Bauchi State.