The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said that it was well within its rights to protest against the continued stay of students at home, following failure of the authorities to reach an agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in a statement on Wednesday, said “it is elementary knowledge, that the right to peaceful assembly and protest is fundamental global right guaranteed by the UN charter on Human and Peoples’s right and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.”
Wabba’s comment was in reply to a statement by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Lai Mohammed, suggesting that a proposed NLC protest in solidarity with ASUU was illegal.
Wabba said the proposed march was not a solidarity protest, adding that the NLC was directly involved in the current dispute in the nation’s university system.
“All the four trade unions involved are affiliates of NLC. Secondly as citizens, our children have been out of school for 5 months, a majority are children of working class and the less privileged. This alone should call for urgent action,” Wabba explained.
He emphasized that all peaceful assembly were lawful and did not require any permission under the law.
According to him, in a democratic society such statement as was uttered by the minister was not consistent with the rule of law.
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