The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), a statutory Association organizing / unionizing all the Nurses and Midwives in Nigeria (Public and Private Establishment) has expressed concern on the lingering strike action embarked on by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), calling on Federal Government to take proactive action in resolving the lingering faceoff.
The association in a statement made available to media houses Wednesday noted that education is a human and powerful driver of development as well as one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace and stability. It therefore calls for a great concern that this all important sector at our Universities level are watered to die, God forbid.
NANNM recalled: “On February 14th, 2022, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on an indefinite strike, over the failure of the Federal Government to keep to agreements reached since 2009 and also what ASUU called “unfaithfulness in the implementation of memorandum of action” signed with the Union”.
The statement read in part: “The effects of strike to the Students are enormous lack of trust and interest in the educational system, loss of student interest in course programs, students poor academic performances, schooling time extension, unstable academic calendar, negative impact of the life career of students, to mention just a few.
“A famous proverb goes thus “the idle heart is the devil’so workshop”. As a result of the strike, many University students have been engaging in nefarious activities since they have a lot of free time on their hands with nothing to do while time away, unproductive activities have caught their eyes.
“Disruption of academic activities have been seen to cause depression, psychological and emotional trauma”.
The association called on the President to initiate a proactive action and meet up with the ASUU demand in resolving the Industrial action for the overall interest of the educational system.
Still, the union warned that if no meaningful actions after solidarity protest scheduled by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to hold as aforementioned, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, will also direct all its members (Nurses and Midwives) across all levels of healthcare in Nigeria to “join University lecturers in the strike in solidarity for the redemption of our children education”.