strike - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Kenyan doctors reject government’s offer to end strike

KENYAN public hospital doctors rejected a government offer aimed at ending a weeks-long strike that has severely disrupted health services, their union chairman said late on Tuesday. The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), which represents more than 7,000 members, went on strike on March 15 to demand payment of their salary arrears and the immediate hiring of trainee doctors, among other grievances. The government asked the doctors to end their strike in a statement issued late on Tuesday, saying the salary arrears have been paid and that trainee doctors would be hired from Thursday this week at…

Feb

2024

By ISAAC ANYAOGU and FELIX ONUAH

Nigeria fuel tanker union begins strike to protest rising costs

NEWS

NIGERIA'S fuel tanker drivers began a strike over rising operational costs due to the recent second devaluation of the naira currency within a year and over the state of the country's roads, a union official said. The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), which groups thousands of truck owners and drivers responsible for fuel distribution in Africa's most populous nation, are pushing for higher freight charges from fuel marketers due to rising costs. Africa's biggest economy is grappling with a cost of living crisis, with the inflation rate hitting almost 30% in January - the highest in nearly three…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

NIGERIA: Aviation workers strike delays flights

NEWS

KAZEEM SANNI DOMESTIC flights in Nigeria were being disrupted, local airlines said, as aviation employees in Lagos blocked roads to the country's busiest local airport to begin a two-day strike in protest over working conditions and wages. The strike is likely to add to problems in a sector that regularly faces jet fuel shortages, which often ground local flights and where international carriers struggle to repatriate revenue from ticket sales due to dollar shortages. Air Peace, which also flies international and regional routes and has the largest fleet, told passengers that "flights across our network will consequently be disrupted" due…

Apr

2023

By KAZEEM SANNI

Flights disrupted as Nigerian aviation workers strike over pay, conditions

NEWS

DOMESTIC flights in Nigeria were being disrupted, local airlines said, as aviation employees in Lagos blocked roads to the country's busiest local airport to begin a two-day strike in protest over working conditions and wages. The strike is likely to add to problems in a sector that regularly faces jet fuel shortages, which often ground local flights and where international carriers struggle to repatriate revenue from ticket sales due to dollar shortages. Air Peace, which also flies international and regional routes and has the largest fleet, told passengers that "flights across our network will consequently be disrupted" due to the…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s university system needs radical reform: student loans for more than 100 million people might be a good place to start

EDUCATION

AMID strikes by Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities, one thing is clear: the current funding model for the country’s public universities is broken. The government’s new Higher Education Bill aims to fix it. Our view, based on over 30 years of working in the academy, including holding positions as university administrators in Nigeria and the UK, is that the bill won’t fix the many problems facing the country’s higher education system. Unless we rethink the whole system, it is unlikely to deliver the change that’s needed. Authors DAVID MBA, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise), University of the…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

S.Africa’s Transnet strike ends as smaller union calls off boycott

NEWS

THE South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) has called off its strike at Transnet, ending a boycott that paralysed the state-owned logistics firm and impacted commodities exports from Africa's most advanced economy. "We have called off the strike and our members are going back to work tomorrow," SATAWU spokesperson Amanda Tshemese told Reuters on Wednesday. SATAWU had called a three-year wage deal agreed on Monday by Transnet and the majority United National Transport Union (UNTU) a "betrayal" and vowed to continue with a strike which started on October 6 following a dispute over pay increases. Container ships are seen outside…

Aug

2022

By The African Mirror

New universities in Nigeria? Absolutely not

EDUCATION

PUBLIC university lecturers in Nigeria have been on strike since 14 February 2022. One of their biggest issues is that the institutions they work for are poorly funded. Despite this, Nigeria’s National Assembly recently raised the idea of establishing 63 new universities. Nigeria already has more than 200 universities. In this interview, Dr Jerome Isuku, an educational management expert who works at the University of Ibadan, sets out his views on the government’s thinking. Author ERAGBAI JEROME ISUKU, Lecturer, University of Ibadan Does Nigeria need 63 new universities? The proliferation of universities in the face of dwindling financial input from…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian doctors begin strike over salary, allowances

NEWS

CAMILLUS EBOH RESIDENT doctors in Nigerian public hospitals began an indefinite strike on Monday over grievances that include the delayed payment of salaries and allowances, the doctors' union said, as coronavirus infections rise. Nigerian doctors frequently strike over what they say are poor conditions of service. Last year they walked out from their jobs three times, including over demands for an allowance for treating COVID-19 patients. Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, president of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), said the strike had started early on Monday and that the government had not reached out to the union since it gave notice…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigerian doctors strike again over benefits amid coronavirus

COVID-19

CAMILLUS EBOH NIGERIAN resident doctors began their second strike of the year over pay and working conditions amid the spread of the new coronavirus, the doctors' union told Reuters on Tuesday. The strike began on Monday, and includes 16,000 resident doctors out of a total of 42,000 doctors in the country, Dr. Aliyu Sokomba, President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, told Reuters. "It is an indefinite strike until issues are resolved," he said. "All resident doctors at the COVID-19 centres have joined the strike." Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has a total of 55,160 confirmed coronavirus infections and…