Between 1999 and 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has embarked on strike for more than 1,500 days, to the detriment of Nigerian students.
This means that most of the lecturers in public universities in Nigeria have stayed away from their classrooms for four years and two months since 1999, as a way of pressing home their demands from the federal government.
The union’s major demands include the renegotiation of its 2009 agreement with the federal government, the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), a halt to the proliferation of universities, and the release of revitalisation fund, among others.
Although these demands have not been met, ASUU recently suspended its eight-month strike following an order from the industrial court’s judgment.
Impact on students
The ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, had said the strike was in the interest of the students and the betterment of the university system. However, the action of the union affects the students more by depriving them of education and elongating their years in school.
The question is, should this be so? Is there a way lecturers can press home their demands without their actions directly affecting the students? It has become a normal occurrence for students to spend more than the required course duration in tertiary institutions due to ASUU strikes.
Some students, who have had hopes of completing their programmes this year, have had their hopes dashed.
Others who looked forward to starting a new school-year have been slowed down. All these have created frustration, anger and disappointment among students and parents, as it now appears to be some sort of punishment for enrolling in public universities.
Student reaction
Reacting to the suspension of the strike, this Twitter user, maneflo_yyo, condemned what appears to be a jam-parked schedule for lectures.
Nigerian schools Sha. We never even commence lecture fully before the strike and they want to round a semester up in one and half months. Lmao, nobody cares about the students. Y’all selfish asf!#ASUUstrike pic.twitter.com/wJTTOZBfVQ
— мαηєƒLσ ✞︎ (@maneflo_yyo) October 18, 2022
Speaking to Development Diaries, a student of Benue State University, Joseph Enyi Obande, described the situation as pathetic.
‘I have come to see how much the government cares about our education. Our ambitions are affected, our plans for our lives, our future, our dreams are being affected with the incessant strikes’, he said.
‘A lot of us will encounter lots of difficulties trying to remember all we have been taught before the strike, so we would have to struggle to adjust again because as schools are resuming there won’t be time to adapt properly ’.
For her part, a 300 level student of History and International Studies, Fabuluje Folakemi Blessing, said, ‘I don’t know where to start from now, because History is not a course you study just before exams, you have to start very early’.
Failed agreements
There have been 16 ASUU strikes since 1999. Agreements have been made; promises have been broken and university education has been left to haemorrhage. Each time the union goes on strike, Nigeria’s tertiary education suffers in human development, research, science, and technology.
In order to prevent students from being affected, there has to be alternatives to going on strike. Lecturers should present their demands to the government well ahead of time to enable proper budgeting and planning for funding which should project beyond 12 months to at least a five-to-ten-year period.
Also, in order not to be totally dependent on the federal government, which appears to be failing in honouring agreements, universities should find other ways to generate their financial resources.
On its part, the government should regularly review policy, staff development and the comprehensive management of higher education and give academic staff all their dues.
Photo source: Getty Images
