Law undergraduates in Nigeria have lamented the crisis in the Education sector as well as the hardship the country saying the Federal Government is not doing enough to address to problems.
The students under the aegis of The Law Students’ Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) said these in a statement signed their leader Anyiam Christian Kelechukwu.
They also criticized their lecturers and the organised labour in the country for being part of Nigeria’s problems.
According to the statement, “the leadership of the National Executive Council of LAWSAN, led by His Excellency Anyiam Christian Kelechukwu, GCOL, has noted with dismay and untold sadness, the hardship and suffering voluntarily imposed on Nigerian Students by the Tripartite actions of NLC/TUC, The Federal Government and ASUU.
“It is with great sadness and gloom that we have observed the unfortunate turn of events over the past few weeks, months and year of the current Tinubu-led APC administration.
“Despite its noble and honest intentions, we feel and hold that truth must be told to power if at all our beloved Nation would have a chance again at redemption.
The students’ bloc world over, not just in Nigeria, constitutes perhaps a major percentage of the country’s population and as such must be seen to have a voice in issues plaguing not only the nation’s existentiality but that of the Nationals’ as well”, they said.
The Law students went further to say, “The strike that started on Monday and was relaxed for a week, does not speak well for our country and for suffering Nigerian students. As students in Nigeria, we deserve more and should get more.
“It is unthought of and unbecoming to us, as future lawyers, that the Federal Government of Nigeria would remain steep necked in negotiations with the Organized Labour over incremental wages for the Nigerian worker particularly in light of worsening and excruciating present harsh economic realities. Government’s insistence on a negligible 100% increase from the present 30,000 is not only laughable but most impassioned.
“The agitations of the Labour Unions are not far fetched from reality and only points to the fact, that they’re human beings indeed. The economic policies of the federal government is without doubt dealing heavy blows on everyone and it is only a tree, that one will be cutting and it will still stand there.
“For instance, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, particularly the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention 26 of 1928 and the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention 131, requires member countries to guarantee a minimum wage that ensures a living wage for all workers. Our country ratified these conventions, and the national minimum wage has been a legal requirement since 1961. Why is the Federal Government shying away from its legal obligations.
“On the other hand, Labour’s proposal of an outrageous increase to about N500,000 (though appreciated), to us is mere wishful thinking as it fails every economic litmus test. We therefore wish to call both parties acting under the extant Tripartite Committee to immediately return to the boardroom, exorcise themselves of all nuances and preconceived prejudices and seek to meet at a mid-point.
“The collateral damage exacerbated by the strike action, even though it is relaxed for a week is being borne majorly by the student population hence we would not hesitate to immediately also liaise with sister Students Associations to activate our arsenal across the country to ensure we press home our demands to this end.
“Labour must be realistic in its demands and the Government, open to shifting grounds from its current inhumane stance. It is our opinion and indeed one held by a vast majority of Nigerians that a minimum wage offer of N200,000 (together with consequential increments on those of other grades) is not unrealistic nor is it economically impossible. This is the only way the government can help the Nigerian worker survive this hard times which it (government) put us into.
“Again, as the highest representative body of the Law Students in Nigeria and being conversant with the extant Nigerian Labour Laws, we wish to condemn recent statements attributed to the AGF where he allegedly described the actions of Organized Labour as Criminal and in contravention of the TDA.
*We humbly wish to appeal to the very Learned Senior Silk to allow reason and caution prevail in these tough times. Neither the court room nor the media war room has any solutions to what gravely ails us presently. We must all now stoop to conquer in these difficult times.”
As solutions, the students advised that Government should “roll out a good number of economic stabilization initiatives geared towards arresting inflation (which is the major driver of the wage increase agitation), achieving food security and physical security, as well as ensuring immediate and permanent stabilization of the Naira.
“Importantly, Labour’s recourse to strike should always be the last resort, and now that it has been activated and relaxed, NLC/TUC/ASUU must ensure this is the last. It means any agreement with the government should guarantee lasting industrial peace and welfare of the people in line with Section 14(2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
“We have also in the past, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector, which is currently, nothing to write home about. From the massive failure recorded recently by JAMB, by immoral and indecent stories emanating from our higher institutions and the poor infrastructural state of these institutions, points to the need for the government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector. We can’t continue chasing rats, while our houses continues to burn”, the statement said.
