Recently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) gave the Federal Government two weeks ultimatum to meet their demands or face the disruption of academic activities in the nation’s universities. ASUU had threatened that its members may be forced to embark on a nationwide strike over the failure of the government to address their demands. The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the decision was reached after a meeting of its national executive council. Osodeke is the view that the federal government has not made any genuine effort to meet their demands.
Some of the issues in contention include, the sanctity of legally constituted Governing Councils of the federal universities, the review of the 2009 federal government and ASUU agreement, revitalisation fund for public universities, payment of all earned academic allowances, withheld salaries and promotion arrears. Others are alleged illegal recruitments in the universities; the proliferation of public universities, and the continued usage of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the rejected Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu announced the dissolution of the governing councils of major government agencies and institutions, including the universities and other tertiary institutions. In an apparent reaction to the ultimatum by ASUU over the failure to reconstitute the governing councils of federal universities, the federal government quickly announced the members of the governing councils of 50 federal universities, 37 polytechnics and 24 colleges of education.
Besides this, ASUU President wants the government to implement its other requests. According to him, “it is not just about the governing council alone, it is just one of them. Secondly, we said they should reinstate the illegally dissolved governing council. We didn’t say they should constitute a new one. As far as we are concerned, they have not met any.”
The new ultimatum by ASUU is probably informed by the piteous state of the nation’s universities. The university system is plagued by inadequate funding, dilapidated infrastructure and disillusioned workforce. The libraries and laboratories are littered with obsolete books and equipment. A classroom meant to accommodate 50 students now takes over 150 or more students in most federal and state universities. This can explain why the lecturers are migrating in droves to other countries.
It is sad that the government has serially reneged in its agreements with ASUU and other varsity unions. We can recall the 2009 agreements and others which the government did not fulfill. This has made ASUU to embark on strikes. In 2020, ASUU went on strike that almost lasted for one year.
Between February 14, 2022 and October 14, 2022, the universities in the country were shut because of strike by ASUU over funding and other issues. A whole academic session was lost in the process. That strike was the 17th in the series since the commencement of the present democratic dispensation in 1999.
Each time the varsity teachers go on strike, the academic calendar is disrupted. The strike has affected the quality of teaching in the universities. Some of the graduates of these institutions are half-baked. Strike has contributed so much to the deterioration of the university system. During the strike, some of the students take to various vices and anti-social behaviours or crimes, while the parents bear the brunt.
No doubt, ASUU’s demands are legitimate. The government should honour its agreements with ASUU. University education is a critical sector that should not be ignored. Government should listen to the issues raised by the lecturers and attend to them. Let the government reduce the cost of governance and plough the savings to education. Government should pay the revitalisation funds and earned academic allowances. At the same time, timely promotion of varsity teachers and university autonomy should be given urgent attention.
Since ASUU has overused the strike option in settling disputes with government, we urge it to shelve the impending strike and use dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues. The strike strategy has seemingly lost its appeal and usefulness. Strike can only be used when other non-disruptive strategies of settling trade disputes have been exhausted. Henceforth, let the varsity teachers devise other peaceful means to resolve industrial disputes.