Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X
INDUSTRIAL actions and Nigerian universities are like Siamese twins. Incessant strikes have been a serious challenge faced by our educational sector for decades. For over six month now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honour the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the union and the Federal Government years back. If you are familiar with the lingering industrial strikes in Nigerian public universities, you will sympathise with the poor, innocent students. Like the famous African proverb goes: “When two elephants fight, the grass gets trampled upon.” It is now clear that Nigerian students understand the government’s negligence and I-don’t-care attitude towards the education sector because very few of the people in government’s sons and daughters attend public universities. The government that should do the needful regarding the strike is showing lackadaisical attitude towards it. Therefore, the ongoing strike by ASUU has become immaterial and has taken the back seat in governmental affairs. The government is more concerned with political affairs than returning the students to their class.
The dreams of public university students have been shattered by the strike, and the graduation time of millions of students has been extended. The victims (students) of the strike have lost hope in learning and scholarship. They have shifted their focus from education to other activities such as businesses and learning skills to build their lives since the government, coupled with the lecturers, have failed to secure their future. The number of graduates called-up for the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) nationwide has reduced compared to when public universities are not on strike. The NYSC camps are filled with polytechnic and college graduates, and also graduates from universities abroad, graduates from private universities and graduates from affiliated universities (FCE/CEO/polytechnic graduates). There may be hope of meeting the ASUU demands soon because politicians and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will need ASUU members and corps members to work for them in the 2023 general elections. So, if the strike is not called off, corps members will not sufficient for the election tasks because they are few in number and the professors might work against them during collation exercise.
Back to history, ASUU strike started in 1999 during the time of the former president Olusegun Obasanjo, and it lasted five months before it was called off. In 2001, ASUU members embarked on another strike action that lasted three months. They also embarked on strike in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020 and the latest which is still ongoing (since 14th February, 2022).We have come to realise that it has become an annual affair for the union. The union has made a lot of demands over the years which some have not been given serious attention to, which is why they have resolved to constantly go on strike until the federal government shows more serious devotion to them, at least attend to their demands, even if not all at once.
These demands include: 1. Funding for revitalization of the Nigerian universities- implementation of needs assessment report. 2. Poor funding of state universities. 3. Non-release of operational license of Nigerian Union Pension Management Committee (NUPEMCO). 4. Payment of fractions and non-payment of salaries. 5. Non-payment of earned allowances. 6. Amendment of the pension retirement age of academics on the professional cadre from 65 to 70 years. 7. Reinstatement of prematurely dissolved governing council. 8. Removal of university staff schools from funding by the government. 9. Non implementation of the 2014 pension reform Act with respect to retired professors and their salaries. We are in a country where government prioritises other issues over education, which is supposed to be among its top priorities. Other countries place high premium on education because they are aware of its importance to the citizens. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. They would rather use the money and idea of building a strong educational sector for campaign purposes or squandering it on meaningless projects. It is high time our government realised that the incessant striking of ASUU due to its failure to actualise their demands is jeopardising the future of our youths, as they are the ones directly affected by the actions of both parties.
A lot of Nigerian students, who are supposed to graduates, are still in because they have not convoked and their results have not been released due to the strike. Also, some of them are supposed to have moved to the next cadre but now they remain stuck in the same level. Parents are not left out in this issue, as they are also affected in the sense that, some of them hustle seriously to get enough money to pay for their children’s up keep and they have already calculated the months or years remaining for their children to graduate. But as strike commences, their calculation have been destroyed and they have already been put in distress due to too much thought on how and where to get more money to pay for an additional year. The students, on the other hand, often get frustrated. Some begin to lose interest in schooling. Some ladies indulge in illicit acts and end up getting pregnant and their lives becomes useless, while many give in to committing heinous crimes in the society like; armed robbery, kidnap or even street vandalism, which is all as a result of the strike not being called off in time.
The question is: For how long will ASUU continue embarking on strike as a result of government’s failure to meet their demands? The bitter truth is that the government cannot always meet up the demands of ASUU because of other pressing issues in the country. But, at least, they should show more concern and priority to the academic sector in Nigeria rather than remorseful over the issue, because it is part of their duty to cater to the needs of the people. If they had been meeting up the union’s demands, then I believe the issue of ASUU continuously going on strike, would not have been as serious as it is today. ASUU should look into other means of showing their grievances rather than industrial actions. I sincerely crave the indulgence of both parties to consider those who are directly affected by their decisions so as to make the future a better one.
- Oloko writes in via blackoloko@yahoo.com
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