The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) says labour unions in Nigeria are yet to lose track of their responsibilities despite the challenges facing them.

ASCSN’s president, Tommy Okon, who disclosed this in an interview on Saturday in Lagos, said that the movement had improved immensely over the years.

“Aside from the traditional way of bouncing the table, the capacity of the modern-day unionism has been built to engage government and make the government see why it should do what it needs to.

“For instance, President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed into law harmonised retirement age for teachers: that is also an improvement and a welcome development,” he said.

Mr Okon stressed that the development by Buhari’s regime would encourage educational officers and further urge them to impact Nigeria’s education system positively.

“So, I think the trade union movement is trying,” he said, adding, however, that labour unionism could be strengthened if the legislations were reviewed.

This, according to him, has been ongoing since 2005. He added that strengthening unionism in the country would require the government to get to collective agreement terms.

‘’These are areas that are very germane to unionism because it is not the unions that renege agreement but the government.

“So, the government should not enter into any agreement it knows it will not honour; these are issues which are on the front burner, if we want the labour administration to be strengthened,” Mr Okon said. 

(NAN)