Three non-teaching staff unions in the nation’s universities held a five-day warning strike last week. The aim of the unions, which are the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), is to once again draw government’s attention to the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement it signed with them.
The failure of the Federal Government to implement the controversial agreement has been a source of acrimony between it and the university unions in the last eight years. The agreement, which also involved the arrowhead Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has led to many individual and collective strikes in the universities over successive regimes, leaving genuine stakeholders wondering if government, indeed, willingly entered into the agreement or intends to ever implement it.
The Muhammadu Buhari administration inherited the liabilities of the agreement and it has a responsibility to resolve its controversies. There is no running away from this responsibility since government is a continuum. So, the first point to note is that this government must not take out its frustrations on the nebulous 2009 agreement on the unions. While government may be within its right to invoke the Trade Disputes Act Cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 on “no work, no pay” rule, utmost care must be taken in dealing with the aggrieved unions.
This is why we endorse the appeal by government to the unions to embrace dialogue. All parties involved in this running dispute must realise that this is a difficult time for government, on account of the current economic recession. It is probably the most unlikely of times for government to dispense with extra money. The amounts of money that would be required to faithfully implement the said agreement will most likely run into hundreds of billions of naira. The government certainly, cannot come up with such a huge sum at this time.
Yet, the challenge is for government to implement the agreement it freely entered into. It is a minimum and legitimate expectation of the unions with whom government entered the agreement. This is why we support the effort by government to review the 2009 agreement with a view to finding a middle course to bring it in line with present economic realities. It would appear that the 13-man panel headed by Wole Babalakin (SAN) recently constituted by government is to review the agreement reached with ASUU only. Government should see the wisdom in extending the mandate of the panel to the other unions or constituting a new one for that purpose. The only way to bring lasting peace to the universities is to adopt a system of collective bargaining with all the relevant unions with a view to faithfully implementing the outcomes reached.
While we are at this, we appeal to the university unions to sheathe their swords. Industrial action, which they resort to all the time, has become over-used and unpopular. It is time to allow peace and decorum to reign in our higher institutions. The universities should, indeed, be in the forefront of finding creative and home-grown solutions to the myriad of problems currently confronting the country. This will require concentration, sacrifice and a deep sense of patriotism.
The frequent resort to strikes in the universities is traceable to the chronic under-funding of the institutions, but it is time for all the stakeholders to know that the responsibility for maintaining industrial peace in the institutions does not lie with government alone. We, however, agree that government must play the leading role and, most importantly, create enabling environment for harmony and stability in the schools.
Good enough, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it will engage the team set up by the Federal Government to renegotiate the 2009 agreement with staff unions in universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education based on the principle of collective bargaining. Its president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, explained that the union was anxiously waiting for the government to inaugurate its negotiating team because it would be a full regime of re-negotiation of the agreement. We call on the two sides to be realistic in their expectations from the exercise.
To break with the past, government must be sincere in its dealings with the unions this time and seek a holistic solution to the problems of the 2009 agreement, with no union left behind.