The Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are heading for a collision over the latter’s plan to embark on a protest in support of the university workers’ strike.

While the government restated its call yesterday for the protest to be shelved, the NLC said there was no going back.

The latest appeal by the government was made by Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige.

Ngige told the leadership of the congress at a meeting in Abuja that a report by the Department of State Services (DSS) strongly warned against the protest scheduled for Tuesday 26th July, 2022.

The  minister added that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) mandated him to notify labour leaders of the security implications of the planned protest.

“The masses might wrongly interpret the rally as a ploy by the NLC to enhance the chances of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate (Peter Obi), a situation which could spur the supporters of the other political parties into violence,” Ngige said via a statement by his ministry’s  Head, Press and Public Relations, Olajide Oshundun.

Deputy President of the NLC,  Najeem Usman and General Secretary,  Emmanuel Ugboajah, who said the protest would go on as scheduled,   assured government that it would be peaceful.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba, in a statement yesterday, also said there was no going back on the protest.

Wabba, who was reacting to an earlier warning against the strike by Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said it was in consonance with democratic norms and rule of law.

Mohammed had on  Wednesday said the NLC had no reason to embark on the protest as the Federal Government had no dispute with its members. He declared the protest as illegal.

The NLC, in a  statement, said:  ”It’s elementary knowledge that the right to peaceful assembly and protest is a fundamental global right guaranteed by the UN Charter on Human and Peoples right and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. All peaceful assemblies are lawful and do not require any permission under our laws. In a democratic society, such a statement is not consistent with the rule of law.

“It (protest) is not a solidarity protest, NLC is directly involved in the current dispute in our 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, the majority are children of the working class and the less privileged, this alone should call for urgent action.”

The National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS) has also directed its sub-divisions to mobilise students to join NLC in the protest.