Lafia – The National Association of Nigerian Student’s Joint Campus Committee (NANSJCC), Nasarawa State chapter, has appealed to the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve its planned protest march to Nasarawa State.
Mr Ibrahim Maiyanga, Chairman of the Joint Campus Committee who addressed newsmen at the College of Agriculture on Wednesday in Lafia, said the action was ill-timed.
According to him, “in as much as the association was not against protest by anybody or union, the planned protest by the national body of NLC in the state was ill-timed at this material time, especially as the students will end up being at the receiving end of such action”.
“Fellow comrades, you will recall that we are just recovering from the shocking and untimely death of two fellow students who met their waterloo as a result of same protest throwing the whole state into a sober mood.”
Maiyanga said that the planned protest was of no benefit to the people, appealing to the national leadership of the organised labour to consider the plights of the common man by halting the protest.
The joint union committee chairman added that the state was in a stage that any protest could trigger other reaction, which could be hijacked and again might be turned into another violence by some hoodlums.
“We want the respected leadership of the NLC to, before any protest, exhaust all avenues for negotiation in the interest of peace and industrial harmony,” he said.
He also called on the state government to immediately initiate another dialogue with the, to end the current industrial action in the state.
“We must state here clearly that dialogue remains the only means of resolving any issues because no matter the level of protest, we are still coming to a round table for dialogue. So why protest?
It will be recalled that the national leadership of the NLC had slated Aug. 23 to stage a protest in the state over the alleged refusal of the government to revert its workers’ pay cut decision. (NAN)
