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The extension of the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by two months is not in any way beneficial to the nation’s university system. Apart from disrupting the academic calendar, it contributes so much to lowering the quality of Nigerian graduates and poor ranking of our varsities by global agencies. Frequent strikes by university teachers portend great danger to the development of the nation.
ASUU embarked on a four-week warning strike on February 14 due to the failure of the government to honour its agreement with it, especially the ASUU/FG 2009 agreement, university autonomy and the replacement of government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with ASUU’s University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
ASUU wants the government to release the report of the visitation panel to federal universities, address the discrepancies in the payment of salary, funding and revitalisation of public universities, settling outstanding earned academic allowance, poor funding of state universities and promotion arrears. Four weeks after the warning strike, not much progress was made by the government and the varsity union to settle the industrial dispute. Following the seeming impasse, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU, at its emergency meeting on March 13, 2022, in Abuja, resolved to extend the strike by eight weeks based on the fact that the Federal Government had not shown sufficient concern to the demands of its members. ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, explained that the union “was disappointed that government did not treat the matters involved with utmost urgency they deserved during the four-week period as expected of a reasonable, responsive, and well-meaning administration.” According to him, the two-month extension will afford the government more time to address the demands of the university teachers.
However, the government claimed that it had met all the demands of ASUU. The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who faulted the argument by ASUU, said: “everything that the union demanded, we have done, including earned allowances and revitalisation fund. They chose to extend it for two months for reasons best known to them.”
Regardless of divergent stands by government and the striking varsity teachers, the lingering strike is one too many. It does not augur well for the nation’s varsity education as well as the overall development of the country. While the face-off lingers, the students, parents and the society bear the brunt of the muscle-flexing between government and ASUU. Last year, public university system was shut for close to nine months over disagreement between the government and the lecturers. The inability of the government and ASUU to reach a consensus on the issue is regrettable. For Nigeria to develop beyond its present status, government must invest heavily on education generally, especially university education. Keeping the universities closed for two months is clearly an overkill. Those shutting down public universities do not mean well for Nigerian youths and the socio-economic development of the country. A situation where varsity students are out of school because of the ongoing trade dispute will definitely scale up the general insecurity in the country. The danger in prolonging the strike is that the period of idleness may make some students lose focus in life and take to vices, such as Internet fraud, armed robbery, banditry and kidnapping. Government should not allow the strike to linger a day longer than necessary. There must be an end to the matter. It will not be allowed to continue indefinitely. ASUU cannot be faulted for demanding increased funding for the universities and enhanced welfare for its members. In the same vein, the government may not have all the resources to meet the union’s demand in one fell swoop. Let there be a meeting point between government and ASUU. We believe that dialogue, more than anything else, is needed to amicably settle the matter. We call on the government and the striking teachers to put the interest of the nation first before any other consideration and end the impasse.
Nigerian leaders and those in government should not make mockery of the country’s education system. The universities can only attain the required standard when they are adequately funded. Having the required funding will enable the varsities compete favourably with their peers the world over. The government and ASUU must be willing to quickly resolve the industrial dispute. Good enough, the National Parents-Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has pointed out that ASUU and government can settle the current dispute without making students the victims. Frequent strikes by varsity teachers can neither advance research nor teaching and learning for which varsities are established in the first place. We enjoin ASUU to evolve a non-disruptive mechanism for settling industrial disputes. The use of strike to settle every dispute has become obsolete, destructive and inelegant. In addition to bastardising education, strike is the major reason many parents send their children abroad for varsity education and tacitly encouraging education tourism.
