‘1994 NASU strike: Mobile telephone saved our lives’

Suddenly my eyes alighted on a cross hanging from a chain he wore around his neck. On inspiration, I said: “Oh, you are wearing a cross, so you must be a Christian.” He smiled and replied with a touch of pride that he was not only a Christian but also a leader in his church at Mokola. Indeed he would be going to church after our discussion! I retorted, “I see, very well. Now please tell me which of the various things you have been telling me portrays you as a follower of Jesus Christ?” He became speechless. After a few moments, I told him he should go to church and pray to God for the answer to my question. He got up and went off looking rather sober. The following morning at the daily review meeting which I held with principal officers and deans at the vice-chancellor’s lodge (because the offices were locked up by NASU), we received a report that the NASU-Ashaolu faction’ were demonstrating and processing towards the lodge. Soon thereafter they arrived and entered the grounds singing and demanding to see the vice-chancellor. The noise was so loud that I had no choice but to suspend the meeting. So I went out to meet them on the grounds of the lodge, accompanied by the principal officers and deans. In answer to my enquiry, Ashaolu started to reel out the same stuff he has been telling me the previous evening. When he finished, I went over the points in order and repeated what I had told him. I also emphasized that no harm should befall Prof. Okedara. One of them retorted that Okedara was standing behind me (which I was not aware of) and they would no touch him. Another shouted: Baba ti ko Oyediran logbon k’oto lo, meaningChief Awolowo had taught me tricks before his transition. Then they started singing the song: Tani lawa ko ni baba. I said I was not their baba (father) and advised that they should stop their noise-making and procession, so that we could arrange for discussions on their grievances. I was most relieved when they trooped out of the grounds with smiles on their faces

The episode seemed very strange to me. After reflecting on it and the encounter with Ashaolu the previous afternoon, I concluded that it was divine intervention that changed Ashaolu’s mindset and made him lead his followers to the lodge to “hear it from the horse’s mouth.” I give God the glory.

The most serious and violent industrial action by NASU occurred in early 1994. It was led by the Ojo faction, and resulted in far-reaching consequences. The strike started in January of that year. Although the leading bone of contention was the unresolved issue of parity (15 % salary differential between the academic and non-academic staff), several other demands were listed, including one for the promotion of messengers to a non-existent grade of caretaker. My administration held several meetings with the local and national officials of N ASU and of the Ibadan office of the Federal Ministry of Labour. At the meetings, agreement was reached or several items within the purview of the university administration but, of course, the national issue of parity could only be dealt with by the federal government.

Ojo and his colleagues remained adamant. At a branch congress on March 1994, they decided to make the strike total. They shut down all essential services and intensified their harassment of the staff of our security division. They drove away all the security and other staff at the VC’s Lodge and I had to urgently employ private replacements at my personal expense. They started to distribute and sell (to the strikers!) a table of salary scales that reflected parity and which they falsely alleged had been sent to the universities by the NUC. They refused to give me a copy of the table, claiming falsely that I already had it in my official files. When my staff succeeded in obtaining a copy, it turned out that the table was, in fact, a proposal submitted by SSANU to the federal government on which the latter was yet to take a decision. When officials of SSANU pointed out this fact to Ojo, he retorted that the VC had bribed them to say so! On 18 April 1994, there was a major and dangerous escalation while we were holding the usual Monday morning meeting of principal officers in my office. The strikers massed on the ground floor and laid siege to the VC’s office complex. We could hear them singing war songs, threatening to kill the VC (i.e. me) and, as we were told, they deflated the tyres of all our official vehicles and cut the telephone lines. Luckily I had a mobile telephone. It saved our lives. I telephoned a friend, Chief Raymond Zard, a benefactor and honorary graduate of the university, gave him a brief description of what was happening and requested that he should get the police to urgently come to our rescue. Shortly after the telephone discussion, the strikers broke into the outer room and the office of my secretary. Moments later they broke the door of my office shouting obscenities and throwing missiles which turned out to be parts of the photocopier and other office equipment which they had vandalized. They physically assaulted virtually everybody in the room but, miraculously, I was untouched. They insisted that we should follow them downstairs for undisclosed purpose(s).

As we started to descend, several policemen charged up the stairs and caught seven of them assaulting my colleagues, while the others ran away. The seven were later charged to court by the police on four counts of conspiracy to commit felony, unlawful damage to university property, conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and unlawful assault. All seven ended up in jail. In addition, in a separate case, Solomon Ojo and Mr. L. N. Nwaorgu, chairman and secretary of NASU, respectively, were convicted for presenting and circulating a forged document which they falsely purported to have emanated from the executive secretary of the NUC.

There was a more far-reaching consequence of NASU’s misadventure. I submitted reports and updates on the crisis at several emergency meetings of the Council which, on 26 April, decided that:

*The seven NASU members arrested on 18 April should be suspended pending determination of the court case.

*All security staff who should not have been on strike should return to work latest by 28 April, failing which their appointments should lapse.

*All NASU staff should return to work by 28 April, and those who failed to do so should forfeit their April salaries.

*After 28 April, those who failed to return should be given another notice of seven days with effect from 2 May to return to work or consider their appointment lapsed. The notice should be conveyed to those concerned directly before publication of same in the university bulletin.

On 9 June, the Council decided that:

*The 330 staff whose appointments lapsed but re-applied within the stipulated 17 May deadline should be screened.

*The 62 staff whose appointments lapsed but re-applied after the 17 May deadline had lost their jobs.

*The 625 staff whose appointments lapsed and did not re-apply had lost their jobs.

On 8 September 1994, the Council considered letters of appeal for mercy which had been received from SSANU (Ul branch) and the congregation of the Chapel of the Resurrection. It decided that, on compassionate grounds:

*Those who re-applied for their jobs within the stipulated deadline and had been screened and re-appointed could be re-absorbed on the basis of individual applications.

*Those whose applications for re-appointment were not granted, and those who did not re-apply at all, could be considered for payment of their terminal benefits on submission of individual requests.

In September 1995, the national body of NASU instituted action against the university at the Industrial Arbitration Panel (lAP). In the memorandum which they submitted, they prayed that, among other things, the lAP should order:

*The reinstatement of all their members who had been wrongfully terminated.

*The payment of all salaries and allowances due to them from April 1994 to date.

*The payment of the 15% salary differential which was the leg on which the crisis stood.

They lost the case. Furthermore, because their memorandum was full of half-truths, lies and statements which I considered highly defamatory to my person, I decided to institute legal action against them. However, my friend, a senior advocate of Nigeria, advised that I should ignore the document because it enjoyed absolute privilege in law.

ASUU/IUTA

When I assumed office as vice-chancellor, the chairman of ASUU was Dr. Jide Malomo. He was a mature, reasonable and respectable gentleman with whom I was able to have meaningful dialogue even when our views were divergent. The federal government and ASUU had been negotiating on several issues, but the union was dissatisfied with the pace of the negotiations. Therefore, it went on a national strike in mid-1992. In my discussions with Malomo, I emphasized that, although I agreed with ASUU’s diagnosis of the problems with our universities, I also believed that they were applying the wrong therapy. I tried unsuccessfully to dissuade them from going on the strike which began on the Monday I got to Abuja for my first budget meeting at the NUC, which was relocating from Lagos to Abuja. Because of the strike, the NUC executive secretary, Professor Idris Abdulkadir, was summoned to Lagos by the Federal Minister of Education, Professor Babs Fafunwa. Therefore my meeting with the executive secretary was postponed and held in Lagos four days later. The Supreme Military Council (SMC) was meeting in Abuja that Tuesday amid rumours that it would proscribe ASUU. I believed banning ASUU would serve no useful purpose, but could worsen matters. Therefore, early on Tuesday, I went to lobby a member of the SMC who was lodging in the same hotel as me. I suggested that, as a first step, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) should be allowed to talk to ASUU. However, my arguments did no persuade him. Before my flight from Abuja landed in Lagos that day, the media had announced the proscription of ASUU by the federal government. I believe that the ban was not only unfortunate and unwise, but also led to a significant change in the character of ASUU’s leadership. The incumbent leaders were disbanded and younger academic staff emerged as leaders of a newly-formed Ibadan University Teachers Association (IUTA). I perceived the situation as dangerous for the university and held daily meetings with the principal officers, provosts, deans and some highly-respected senior academic staff in an effort to identify solutions to the impasse. However, for four days, the leaders of IUTA shunned my invitation and avoided meeting with me because, as I was informed, they erroneously believed that I would hand them over to the state security!

Sometime later, the FG directed that the academic staff in each of the thirty-odd universities should elect one representative to a body with which it would resume negotiations. The academic staff did not comply, so the stalemate persisted. The CVC met several times to discuss the matter and then setup a panel of three vice-chancellors to meet with leaders of the banned ASUU.