The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) welcomes all Nigerian workers, pensioners, labour veterans, allies in civil society, women, youth and all people of goodwill to the commemoration of the 2023 Workers’ Day.
The celebration of May Day also known as International Workers’ Day is always the high point of the recognition of the role of the worker in building and sustaining the social and economic systems of the world. May Day which took its roots in the 1886 Haymarket Struggle continues to embody the aspirations, commitment, and sacrifices of workers for dignified livelihood, decent wages, pristine working conditions, inclusive development and a fair stake in the reward of surplus value.
We salute the tenacity, altruism and sacrifice of Nigerian workers. Despite the very tough odds stacked against them, Nigerian workers remain undeterred in their quest to contribute to the building of a great country. For this reason, May Day is dedicated in honour of the selfless service, sweat and sacrifice of Nigerian workers and indeed the working class all over the world whose relentless toil tills the farmlands, digs the mines, lays the rail tracks, builds the cities, constructs and runs the factories, provides the services that make our communities liveable and teaches the current and future generations in our Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions. With respect to teaching, without our brains and muscles not even a single wheel of productivity can turn because the truth is that workers produce the wealth.
So, on a day like this we celebrate the great value that we as teachers bring not only to the workplace but also to humanity at large.
CONUA is using this opportunity to express its gratitude to the Federal Government for the liberalisation of academic staff unionism in the university system as has always been the case for other tertiary educational staff unions. The symbol of this salutary liberalisation is the full recognition and due registration of CONUA. With CONUA’s choice of the theme for this year’s May Day as “Academic Staff Unionism: Force for Good, Force for Stability, Force for National Greatness”, we strongly seek to make sacrosanct the values of goodness in the university community, stability in our academic calendar and greatness in the nation at large. Accordingly, CONUA is using this occasion of the May Day celebrations to both felicitate with Nigerians and to assure the citizens of this country that the era of academic calendar disruptions in the university system has come to an end. This we believe will contribute significantly to the enhancement of the efforts towards national growth.
This year’s May Day celebrations fall around the period of the training of the newly-elected members of the National Executive Committee of CONUA and Branch Chairpersons and Secretaries. This training by the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, that took place between the 24th and 27th of April, 2023, is a very great development and a worthwhile enablement strategy for the fulfillment of our theme for this May Day celebration.
CONUA wishes all people of goodwill a most wonderful May Day celebration and enjoins all patriotic Nigerians to be agents of communal good.
Signed
Comrade (Dr).Nwoke, Ernest Onyebuchi
National Publicity Secretary.
