ASUU, Fed. Govt. And The Rest Of Us
It has been weeks since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) went on strike. The union had embarked on a one-month warning strike on February 13 to press home their demands for better working conditions, and proper funding of Nigerian universities among other things. One additional sticking point is the teachers demand exclusion from the controversial IPPIS model of payment proposed by the federal government, which, according to the union, undermines university autonomy, saying it is an attempt to turn university teachers into civil servants.
The union after its NEC meeting on Sunday March 13 extended the warning strike by eight more weeks. This, according to them was to give the federal government enough time to do the needful.
It is pertinent to note that the conflict has lasted for almost three decades and resulted in consistent strike actions that have a cumulative record of more than four years.
From the demand for proper funding of tertiary education to the request for better working conditions for academic staff, to re-instatement of unjustly sacked university teachers, through to the push for university autonomy, and failure of government to act on certain agreements; ASUU has had different reasons to embark on strike actions at different points. The consistency of the strike actions is fueled by the problem of partial fulfillment of agreements by the federal government at each point with just a mere promise to do so sometime in the future. The drastic approach of the union this time suggests that it has had enough and only full fulfillment of all agreements reached in the past, as well as the adoption of current solutions, can avert a total shutdown of academic activities for as long as it may take.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) insists that its struggles are beyond narrow self-interest, but it is in the best interest of students and the future of tertiary education in the country at large, adding that as academics and a community of enlightened individuals, it will be wrong to sit back and do nothing in the face of a governmental neglect which is responsible for the deplorable state of education in the country.
Whatever the driving motive for the incessant strike action is, at the middle of this fight is a victim which is seldom considered – the students. True to the saying: when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Here in this fight, the element that sustains the most injuries and casualties are the students who are not the cause of the fight and who may not necessarily be involved in the fight.
