Director-General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State, Comrade Issa Aremu, has affirmed that industrial relations and disputes should not become industrial warfare in any human endeavor.
He made the assertion at the maiden edition of a colloquium organized by the Federal University of Technology Akure chapter of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities to commemorate the 2023 international Worker’s Day.
Aremu, who was vice president of the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) between 2007 and 2015, spoke on the theme, ‘Entrenching Industrial Peace in Nigerian Public Tertiary Institutions’.
He said while dispute resolution requires different approaches, cooperation within the university system and synergy between government and unions can enhance peaceful coexistence.
Aremu said that the mishandling of disputes by parties in the system has exacted huge tolls on the tertiary education sector with students bearing the huge cost of the serial negative consequences.
He expressed the hope that an uninterrupted academic calendar will become achievable soon. This he said can be achieved when all parties to industrial relations tread the path of amicable dispute resolution, instead of warfare.
The labour leaders said academic wellbeing of students and the interest of workers should guide operators of the system to always resolve disputes in such a way that they do not cripple the system and jeopardize the future of young Nigerians.
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Aremu advised that dialogue must be adopted while government and labor leaders should know they cannot always win at all times.
He also urged university management to put in place industrial relation framework that will improve the human capital development of staffs, stressing that without industrial union culture, the practice of unionism would be vain.
Addressing the gathering, the national president of the Nigerian Labor Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said to entrench industrial peace in the university there must be equity, justice and fairness in the working environment.
Ajaero, who was represented by the national president, SSANU, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, assured members that the unions would continue to protect staff interests and reject any form of intimidation from any quarters.
He noted that the idea by FUTA SSANU to build a new secretariat showed that the branch believes in capacity building of its members, and that the NLC is always in support of building structures that can help improve human capital development.
The chairman of the occasion and FUTA pro-chancellor, Ambassador Godknows Igali, congratulated SSANU for picking a very apt time to organize the colloquium.
The vice chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji, also congratulated the leadership of SSANU for putting together such a ground breaking event.
The father of the day and founder of Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, represented by the registrar of the institution, Mr. Omololu Adegbenro, congratulated SSANU for the success of holding the colloquium.
He described FUTA SSANU as a role model in the committee of institutions worthy of emulation, and hoped that the tempo of the event would be replicated in subsequent years.
The governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, in a remark at the ceremony thanked the organizers for such a very impactful initiative.
Akeredolu, represented by the Special Adviser on Union Matters, Mr. Dare Aragbaiye, said his government had always believed in the theory of collective bargaining as the only solution to dispute resolution.
