NASU Gives WAEC 7-day Ultimatum Over Anti-workers Activities

The leadership of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) has issued a 7-Ultimatum to the management of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over anti-worker activities and victimisation of in-house union members.

The General Secretary of NASU, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, who gave the ultimatum during a press briefing on Monday in Ikeja, blamed the management for, among other things, deliberately suppressing workers’ efforts to join union activities.

He blamed WAEC for stopping check-off due deductions on January 16, 2025, by issuing an internal memo, Ref No L/GAD/26/235, which ordered the stoppage of NASU check-off dues.

“NASU perceives this action as victimisation against NASU members for embarking on a lawful strike. Before then, WAEC had embarked on a victimisation drive of the in-house union members and refused to abide by a legally binding Memorandum of Understanding executed on 10 March 2025 at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Abuja.

According to Adeyemi, NASU is concerned about the injustice being meted out to in-house union members because they indicated an interest in unionism.

Citing the plan to transfer and scatter union leaders from Yaba headquarters to prevent them from union activities, he stressed that NASU’s efforts for amicable resolution failed. He added that management did not yield the expected results even after another attempt made on 10 February 2025.

“On 10th March 2025, NASU and WAEC reached an agreement facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment as a follow-up to a trade dispute filed against the management of WAEC. That agreement mandated WAEC to immediately resume deduction and remittance of check-off dues to NASU members in line with ILO Conventions 87 and 89, guaranteeing workers to freely associate and bargain collectively.

However, WAEC, through its internal memo of 14 March 2025, deliberately violated this agreement by imposing an unnecessary requirement for individual consent, which was not part of the MoU.”

He noted that another victimisation step against NASU members is that WAEC is deliberately sidelining all NASU members by refusing to engage them.

“If WAEC fails to comply within seven days, NASU will mobilise for nationwide industrial action across all WAEC offices,” he said.