ASUU: Beyond the strike

All over the world, the university is regarded as a centre of learning. It is a place for advancement of knowledge through research and teaching. The university serves as a place where elite are trained, who can eventually become the managers of the society and these individuals trained, ensure the ultimate good, well-being and development of the society in which they live. However, in Nigeria regrettably, the university system has been turned into a direct opposite. The system has been enmeshed in a series of crises since early 1980s to the present day from funding to students unrest and Academic and non-academic staff strikes. The crises in 80s and 90s were under military dictatorship and started with the issue of improve allowances and salary for staff to issue of funding the system to the University autonomy.

Specifically in 1988 the union crises and confrontation reached its peak and they organized a National Strike to obtain fair wages and university autonomy. As a result, the Union was proscribed on 7 August 1988 and all its property seized by the Babangida’s junta. The same military government allowed the Union to resume in 1990, but after another strike the Babangida regime again banned the Union on 23 August 1992. After reaching an agreement between the Union and the Military Government, several of the union's demands including the right of workers to collective bargaining was agreed upon. Further strikes in 1994 and 1996, also led to a serious confrontation between the Union and the regime of Sani Abacha after some lecturers were dismissed.

The ASUU struggle has not change much with the return of democracy. There were series of strikes in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2009, after 3 months of industrial strike, the Federal Government, ASUU and other Staff Unions reached an agreement as a result, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed. This agreement is now known as the famous 2009 agreement. ASUU struggles throughout the Military years and now under civilian administration, has been to address the deterioration of the already over-stretched University infrastructures, poor working conditions of their members and poor funding of the University system. But over the years, prolonged strikes by ASUU, non-implementation of agreements by the FG and corruption within the University system managements and National University Commission have compounded the problems of the Nigerian university system.

Today, the university system has become a victim of the social, political and economic problems of the Nigerian state. This has led to loss of global visibility and our graduates can no longer compete favourably when compared with their counterparts around the world. From appointment of principal officers in the university, other staff and admission of students, the public university system has been politicized, regionalized or tribalised. These primordial considerations have led to other sets of problems, where these officers appointed through favours, try to please their masters to the detriment of the system. The little stipends allocated to universities is siphoned by people that influence the appointments of the principal officers of the universities.

The result is that, money meant for infrastructural development end up in corrupt officials’ pockets. With overwhelming demands by students for admission universities are compelled to admit students that exceed their carrying capacities resulting in overcrowded lecture halls and laboratories, stretching these poorly maintained facilities. These are some of the issues that ASUU is fighting for, but unfortunately, the society is turning against them. ASUU is seen by many as self-serving, greedy whose interest is to fill their members’ pockets with money. In fact, the present strike has exposed our hypocrisy and unwillingness to address the rot in our educational system. Instead of putting pressure on government to fulfill its promises and implement an agreement it signed with the ASUU, it is the lecturers that are pressurized to call off the strike and allow the system collapse to continue. We all agree that the government is not serious about education, but we rather allow the system to collapse than force the government to wake up to its principal responsibility in the development of the education sector?

What surprised many analysts, is that, all this while, the government or the President was kept in the dark of the contents of the 2009 agreement and some of the issues in the agreement were known to the President on the day he met ASUU leaders. The President, according to report, was completely fenced about the issues behind the four months old strike. Then one asks how serious are we as a nation, when the Vice President, Secretary to Government of the Federation and Ministers can meet ASUU leadership and agree on some issues, make promises and offers to ASUU without the knowledge of the President? This shows the level of political leadership we have in the country. Parents, students and the rest of Nigerians should be aware that what ASUU is doing is for the interest of unborn generation of Nigerians, who cannot forgive us if we allow the system to collapse.

The four months old strike will be suspended, today or next week, but the fact remains, we cannot get it right if we continue our short-cuts to everything.