ASUU’s incessant strikes

NO industry in Nigeria has embarked on continuous and incessant strike actions like ASUU. ASUU members’ specialty and responsibilities as university lecturers now include strike actions. Its appalling how they go on strike and how frequently they do so. Virtually every aspect of higher education in Nigeria, especially the university system, has been devastated by the ongoing strikes. ASUU’s mindless strike actions have suffocated what remains of university education in Nigeria. Students’ academic calendar has been disastrously affected. And for a very long time, this has kept students away from the university.  For a developing country like Nigeria, this is not at all encouraging. particularly for a government that is working hard to improve its human resource development and economic growth. No rational-thinking mortal would defend the perennial ASUU strikes in Nigeria, particularly by putting the blame squarely on the doorstep of the Federal Government.

ASUU’s strikes have made some students who could not find anything useful to do to resort to crime and many other vices in the society, thus making the society more vulnerable. ASUU habitually embarks on strikes. Its always a cloudy weather, waiting for the rain. Just why has ASUU developed a reputation for leading strike actions in the nation? Members of the healthcare industry, of course, also go on strike, and both of these sectors are extremely important and critical to the government’s ability to deliver essential services. ASUU has apparently pronounced itself to be above the law. It acts any way it chooses and does not pay attention to anyone, not even the government that hired its members. This is abhorrent and narcissistic behaviour by a group of  supposed character moulders. Its unproductive members are almost absent in important discussions about Nigeria. They don’t answer to anyone; it seems as though they work for themselves. They go on strike for a long time and still expect the government to continue paying their salaries. If the government doesn’t pay, based on the prevailing no work no pay conditions of service, it becomes a problem. What most students and parents are thinking is, why is ASUU holding the government to ransom?

Why this grandstanding and arm-twisting of the government to do their bidding? Its obvious that they are just being cynical and parochial in their dealings. Why haven’t the police gone on strike like ASUU? Is ASUU’s work more important than that of the police? Globally, in every establishment including governments ministries, departments and parastatals, there exist clear codes of ethics based on a formal contract, conspicuously outlining the principles of employee – employer relationships, and which the latter is made to sign ab initio to guard against moral ineptitude. I am yet to see the basis on which ASUU’s strike actions is legal. ASUU’s belligerence and aggressiveness are as a result of actions without consequences. The government needs to do something urgently to stop other unions from copying ASUU. At the university level, there is already competition. SSANU and NASU want to compete with ASUU and why not? If the strike benefits ASUU, it also should benefit everyone else. In the grand scheme of things, the government must halt the frequency of ASUU strikes. It’s important to realise that there are other unions within the university besides ASUU that offer significant and important services.

Those category of staff are also important stakeholders, from the cleaner to the registrar. They provide what ASUU needs to guarantee that students are receiving high-quality teaching. Lets explore how primary and secondary school teachers have been able to deliver teaching instructions without engaging in industrial action. They are employed and supervised by ministries of education at the state levels. Could it be that the Federal Government’s hiring of ASUU gives its members the impression that they are better and superior to anyone else? I humbly submit that I fully reject any type of unionism in the disciplines of health and education. These are crucial economic sectors. Therefore, if we want to get it right, we must eliminate all forms of unionisation in those sectors. And then of course, consider transferring the ownership of universities to either the states or the private sector. I feel they would, in my opinion, listen and act according to the dictates of the states and private owners. Because they are business-oriented and out to generate money, private owners, at the very least, will not allow any kind of industrial action from anyone. Nobody will pay you if you don’t show up for work. This, in my opinion, serves as a model for ending ASUU’s ongoing strikes.

What has been the bone of contention over the years is that the government has not been able to fund higher education to a standard acceptable globally. I think this is not a very justifiable position for anyone to embark on strike, because there are other critical and crucial industries where you could see clearly that the government has not been able to provide the needed support for them to do their work effectively. For example, the police, to whom strike action is even a taboo. Is ASUU work more important than that of the police? No employer requires a trade union to reach agreements with employees over salary and working conditions. There are numerous lecturers who have been coerced into taking part in the unreasonable ASUU strikes. For there to be lasting peace in the educational sector, trade unionism must be made against the law. If ASUU’s work is so valuable, they must be made to be similar to that of the police, who do not have the same employment rights as ASUU to embark on industrial action due to the nature of the work they undertake on behalf of the public.

Sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. After all, they are all Federal Government employees. Through initiatives like TETFUND, the government is making every effort to provide university education with the necessary and suitable infrastructure. ASUU and its members should reciprocate the government’s goodwill by ensuring that students receive quality teaching, and that outstanding research findings are published. That will transform and contribute to our growth and development. Its calamitous to attempt to juxtapose government investment and subsidy in the higher educational sector with the meagre and often non-existent research outputs by academic staff members of universities.  Besides, a lot of their members are not qualified to teach in the public universities. The majority of lecturers in government-owned universities are mediocre. Some lecturers engaged through the back door and who manipulated their way through because they knew top government officials are now holding the society to ransom and behave as though they are more sacred than the rest of us. Its high time government adopted a new approach in  dealing with this issue.

• Dr. Shani writes in via [email protected]

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