Over 500 members of the Oyo State chapter of Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) and Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), on Wednesday, stormed the streets of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to protest the proposed local government autonomy.
The unions, however, demanded that if the local government autonomy was imperative for the state and federal government, payment of primary school teachers, funding of schools, and management of primary schools should be taken away as a responsibility of the local government.
The peaceful protest which kicked off at the Agodi State Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress was led by the State Chairman, Comrade Niyi Akano and the NLC chairman, Comrade Waheed Olojede.
While addressing journalists, the TUC chairman, Comrade Akano said the rally was not a protest against salary arrears but a fight for the soul of primary education in the state and the country at large.
He said experience had shown that local government lacked the capacity to run and fund primary education effectively, particularly based on its sensitivity as the foundation of education.
It would be recalled that local government autonomy has been canvassed by many popular opinions in the country as the way out of redundancy of the third level of government. How the labour unions came about their opposition to that remained a thing to be clearly explained.
