It is regrettable that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) frequently goes on strike to press home certain demands from the government. Recently, it issued a 21-day strike notice to the Federal Government after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of Ibadan.
A few months ago, ASUU had also threatened to embark on strike. In a bid to avert the planned action, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, invited the union to a meeting in June to deliberate on some issues affecting the universities. But the meeting did not achieve much. ASUU president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the government was yet to implement agreements reached at the meeting.
The main issue is that the Federal Government has not yet implemented the re-negotiated agreements it reached with the union since 2009 despite promises to do so. ASUU had reached several other agreements, which revolve around the 2009 memorandum of understanding, with the Federal Government.
Among other demands, ASUU wants the settling of arrears of salaries and earned academic allowances owed its members, payment of revitalization funds for the universities, and better funding of the universities. ASUU is also not happy that the government has not stopped the proliferation of universities even when there is no fund to run them.
The Federal Government had agreed to inject N1.3 trillion for the revitalization of public universities from 2013. It was to be paid in six tranches – N200 billion in the first year and N220 billion each year for the next five subsequent years. The first tranche of N200 billion was released in 2013. But subsequently, the government reneged on its promise to pay the rest. These funds are needed to upgrade the universities.
Though the strikes are justified, they have become too frequent and disruptive. In 2020, members of ASUU shut down activities in the universities for one academic calendar. Barely a year after, the union went on another strike that lasted close to one year. Almost every year, there is either a strike or threat to embark on one by ASUU.
This has crippled activities in the universities. Academic calendar is no longer predictable. Sometimes, students are rushed soon after every strike to meet up with the curriculum of the universities. This exerts much pressure on the students and their parents.
Consequently, the major casualty is standard. Some of the products of our universities are half-baked. Some lack the basic skills required by employers in their field of study. This is worsened by the dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure and facilities in these schools. All this has affected the enrolment of foreign students into our universities. It has also led to the exodus of qualified academic staff from these schools. The image of our tertiary institutions is at a low ebb and they are not reckoned with in the global ranking of universities.
The period of any strike happens to be a major danger to the students. Their academic programmes are seriously disrupted. Some of them, out of frustration, join criminal gangs. Female students are at the risk of being raped. Some were known to have suffered domestic violence and were even killed by some hoodlums in the previous strikes.
We appeal to ASUU to soft-pedal because this is a wrong time to go on strike. Academic calendar should be predictable and another strike will not give room for this. Besides, many parents are going through a lot of hardship currently. Any strike now will keep their children at home and, thus, add to their burden.
A government should win the trust and confidence of its citizens. The Federal Government should reach out to the union immediately and find a way of settling its grievances. Government should show seriousness and should do everything possible to avert the looming strike.
We cannot develop as a country if we do not take education seriously. Leadership is the bottom line. If the government has passion for quality education, it will do everything humanly possible to stop the strike.
President Bola Tinubu should intervene personally and ensure that the tertiary education sector does not fall into another avoidable crisis. A significant increase in the budgetary allocation to education is a necessity now. We need to stop the perennial strikes in our tertiary institutions. All that is required is to put our priorities right. Purchase of luxury vehicles for political office-holders and presidential jets is not what Nigeria needs at this point in time. Our children need quality education. Government owes them that legacy.