Minister, Adamu Adamu, who pledged quick resolution of the crisis was humble enough to admit that the Federal Government failed to fulfill some of the promises it made to ASUU, his counterpart in the Labour Ministry, Chris Ngige, has been grandstanding, asking the university teachers to return to work for not following due process in the declaration of the industrial action.
The Monday, August 14, 2017 nationwide indefinite strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to force the Federal Government to do its litany of biddings, represents another low in the checkered history of university education in the country.
And for the umpteenth time, ASUU’s obstinacy and the Federal Government’s apparent irresponsible disposition to handling matters relating to education are welling up, and reflective of the fact that it is not yet Uhuru for the all-important sector.The mixed messages that have characterised the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government since inception, has also found vent in the ongoing strike action.
While the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, who pledged quick resolution of the crisis was humble enough to admit that the Federal Government failed to fulfill some of the promises it made to ASUU, his counterpart in the Labour Ministry, Chris Ngige, has been grandstanding, asking the university teachers to return to work for not following due process in the declaration of the industrial action.The ASUU was formed in 1978, as a successor to the Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT) formed in 1965. NAUT covered academic staff in the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ife, and University of Lagos.
A Catalogue Of Industrial Actions
SINCE making its debut as a professional /pressure group, ASUU has deployed strike actions as a potent tool to demand and obtain whatever it wants from several past governments.They union has also used industrial actions to demand for not just improved teaching and learning environments, but also good governance from previous governments, including some very repressive and brutish military regimes. That said, the length and spate of these strike actions, have been most deleterious to the image and content of the Nigerian University System (NUS).
For instance, between 1992 and 2013, a period of 21 years, the university teachers downed tools over 23 times in an effort to drive home their demands. This translates to at least one strike action per year. From 2014 till date, the statistics have not been better.
Since its initial strike action in 1980 arising from the need to resist the termination of the appointment of six lecturers from University of Lagos, as a result of the report of Justice Belonwu Visitation Panel Report, linked to university autonomy and academic freedom, ASUU embarked on further strikes to demand funding for the universities, the reversal of the problem of brain drain, poor salaries, and conditions of service, including the improvement of entire university system.
Back in 1983, there was negotiation on the Elongated University Salary Structure (EUSS). This became a subject of dispute in 1988 because of the lack of implementation of the prior agreement. Failure to implement those policies, which were negotiated in order to con
clude previous disputes, have been a constant factor in subsequent disputes. Apart from matters relating to teaching and learning, ASUU in 1984 went on strike to oppose deregulation of the economy and to resist military dictatorship. The following year, it embarked on another strike to resist the military regime and its authoritarian Decree 16 of 1985, for allowing the National Universities Commission to take over the responsibilities of the Senate, and allowing external authorities to regulate programmes in Nigerian universities.
The introduction of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) in 1986 by the General Ibrahim Babangida’s administration, as well as opposition of union members to the killing of students at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, by mobile Police was the cause of another strike action that year. Not long after it was de-proscribed, in May and July 1992, ASUU was again on strike due to the failure of negotiations between the union and the Federal Government over the working conditions in Nigerian universities. An agreement was reached in September 1992.
In 1993, ASUU was banned again for disregarding the order of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) to suspend industrial action and return to negotiation table. That notwithstanding, in 1994 ASUU was again on strike to demand renegotiation of agreements reached in 1992, the reinstatement of over 80 lecturers whose appointment was terminated by Prof. Isa Mohammed, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, and to resist the annulment of the June 12 1993 Presidential election, widely perceived to have been won by M.K.O. Abiola.
In 1996, ASUU was again on strike protesting the dismissal of its then president, Dr. Assisi Asobie. The arrival of the millennium fared no better in terms of strike actions because in 2001, the body declared industrial action on issues related to funding of universities, and also sought the reinstatement of 49 sacked lecturers at the University of Ilorin for taking part in previous industrial action in 2001.
In 2003 ASUU embarked on further industrial action due to the non-implementation of previous agreements, poor university funding and disparity in salary, retirement age and non-implementation. The cat and mouse relationship between the government and ASUU continued until 2007, when ASUU went on another strike for three months. In May 2008, it staged two one-week “warning strikes” to press on a range of demands, including an improved salary scheme and re-instatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed many years ago.
The following year, it embarked on an indefinite strike over disagreement with the government on an earlier agreement reached. After three months of strike, in October 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed and the strike was called off. Eighteen months after it suspended its industrial action over the non- implementation of some aspects of the 2009 agreement with the government, it again directed its members nationwide to down tools on July 1, 2013.
Latest Face-off
IN setting sail on the latest industrial action, ASUU among other things said it is protesting against the failure of the Federal Government to implement the terms of the agreement reached between the union and the government in 2009.According to its president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, the decision to embark on the strike was taken at an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of ASUU on August 12, 2017.
He explained that the union decided to opt for a strike after the Federal Government failed to implement the 2009 agreement and MoU it signed with ASUU in 2013, among others.
Disputed areas in the impasse include, funding for the revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, registration of the Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company and pension matters, fractionalisation and non-payment of salaries and the issue of universities staff schools.
He stressed that based on a nationwide consultation with members, an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of ASUU rose on Saturday, August 12, 2017, with a resolution to embark on an indefinite strike action...” The nationwide action is total and comprehensive. During the strike, there shall be no teaching, no examination and no attendance of statutory meetings of any kind in any of our branches.’’
He said that the failure of the government to implement the 2009 agreement resulted in an indefinite strike in 2011, 2012 and 2013, adding that the strike compelled the government to sign an MoU with the union on December 11, 2013.
In the MOU, which was meant to reinforce implementation of the agreement reached, the government agreed to commit N1.3tn in six years to the revitalisation of the university system with a planned annual release of N229bn, starting with N200bn in 2013.
To this end, government accepted to open a dedicated revitalisation account with the Central Bank of Nigeria and establish a central committee to monitor the implementation of the revitalisation of the universities, in addition to also agreeing to pay the outstanding balance of earned academic allowances after verifying the level of payment from an initial N30bn provided for the purpose and others.Sadly, the Federal Government, for the umpteenth time reneged on the annual release of the N200bn for the revitalisation.
Backlash For Knowledge Acquisition
WITH the rest of the world gliding in topflight mode as far as knowledge acquisition is involved, Nigeria is still eons away from where it should be. For instance, Nigerian universities library resources are outdated and manually operated, Internet services are non-existent, or epileptic and slow nearly all universities; a greater majority Nigerian Universities are grossly under-staffed as they rely heavily on part-time and visiting lecturers, while a reasonable percentage of these schools have under-qualified academics.
In terms of learning facilities, less than 20 per cent of universities have video conferencing facilities, use interactive boards, while over 50 per cent have no access to public address systems, even in overcrowded lecture rooms/theatres.
With embarrassingly high teaching staff-students ratio in many universities, less than 20 Nigerian universities have up to 60 per cent of their teaching staff with PhD qualifications. There are also some universities in the country where the total number of professors is not up to one dozen. Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, established in 2001 falls into this category, so also Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, established in 2006.
While more expenditure is incurred in administration and routine functions than in core academic matters in Nigerian universities, most of them are over-staffed with non-teaching staff, and there is no relationship between enrolment and the tangible manpower needs of the country.
ASUU More Of Blessing Than A Curse?
DESPITE the pathetic milieu, which university teachers ply their trade in, many, including parents still believe that one of the major problems that university education is contending with is ASUU. The union is branded as selfish in its demands, while its members are alleged to be involved in a cocktail of unethical practices and underhand dealings.
But former executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, and Coordinator, Lagos Zone of ASUU, Olusiji Sowande beg to differ.According to Okebukola, who is the President of the Global University Network for Innovation GUNI-Africa regional office, “The slight restoration of the glory of the university system in Nigeria after its battering in the mid-1980s can be boldly ascribed to ASUU’s action and pressure on government beginning from 1992. The establishment of the Education Trust Fund, which recently metamorphosed to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) came about largely through the recommendation and pressure by ASUU. The improved welfare scheme of staff in the universities could have been shadowy if not for the pressure of ASUU. The hypothesis I wish to cling to is that ASUU has been more of a positive enabler of development of the Nigerian university system than a depressant of the system.”
On his part, Sowande, a professor of Ruminant Animal Production at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Abeokuta, says, “If not for ASUU, public universities in Nigeria would have been a thing of the past, given the rate at which private universities are being licensed. Even state governments that are creating public universities, do you know they are already doing something towards privatisation when they say they are creating universities on the basis of the Public Private Partnership (PPP)?
Government Must Learn To Honour Agreements
ASUU appears to place a lot of premium on the 2009 agreement as well as the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government, which have remained unaddressed. Thus, not much can be achieved between both parties without these two issues being addressed.Vice Chancellor Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State, Prof. Friday N. Ndubuisi agrees with this. He is therefore insisting that the Federal Government should be honourable enough to respect agreements freely entered into, even if not fully.
He added that the ranking of Nigerian universities have remained low because of incessant strike actions arising from breached agreements, a development he said has “immense economic consequences on both the nation and parents. It is wasteful and constitutes serious security risk to the country as our able bodied youths are left to loiter around and made to become the proverbial devil’s workshop.”
“Strike actions must be avoided in the university system because they give negative signals to the outside world, and both students and parents are rudely affected by these actions. The government must take universities and in fact education as a priority project. On their parts, universities must manage funds accruing to them transparently. The government must put in place adequate checks and balances to ensure judicious use of funds sent to varsities. That is actually the essence of visitation panels that are sent regularly to check the account books of universities,” he said.
Ndubuisi added that, “A nation’s level of development has to be measured by its quality of education, and amount of resources invested in research. That many universities in South Africa, for instance, are highly rated is because of the amount of funds government invests in education. But in this part of the world, instead of investment in education to be on the ascendancy, it is going down. This development does not show anxiety on the part of the government to move the country forward. Education must be seen as a right not as a privilege. And so, government must be ready to invest heavily in the sector because our universities require a lot of funds to play catch up. Running universities, it must be stressed is a capital intensive exercise.”
Strike Action, Only Solution For Now?
ACROSS the country, ASUU chieftains maintain that for now, industrial action remains the only language they resort to in communicating with governments. According to Sowande: “Our governments are not listening governments; they only listen when you go on strike. And you know it is not only ASUU that is fighting this irresponsibility of the government; it is the only group that is being courageous.”
His view is shared by the Zonal Chairman, Calabar Zone of the union, Nsing Ogar, who said except members of the public have an alternative strategy, “we have tried all approaches and strike is the last option.“One of the major approaches is dialogue and over the years, we have been open to dialogue. We have tried to engage government for quite sometime but they were not responding. Thereafter, it came to the negotiation table and made some promises, but none has been fulfilled.
“We have explored all avenues and government has not been cooperating. But if there is any other alternative approach that will yield result to help the educational system, we are open to such approach. We must sacrifice today for a better tomorrow even though the academic calendar is truncated once this happens, but when we come out successful, infrastructure in the university system are improved.”
Ogar called for increased budgetary allocation for the sector, stressing that smaller African countries are doing far better than Nigeria’s paltry six per cent in the 2017 budget.
Exploring Alternative Funding
ON exploring alternative sources of revenue generation, including consultancy services, he said, “that depends on individual university, but education is supposed to be a huge investment. Even with the consultancy services, I am very sure in most of these campuses the situation would have been worse if this services were not there. You see in Nigeria, the environment will not be welcoming for investment because government has not provided the needed infrastructure to ensure these consultancy services and others thrive within the society and the university campuses.”
Prof. Mahmud Lawal, North West Zonal Coordinator of the union aligns with his colleagues, but says, “ASUU is not interested in embarking on strike always as many tend to believe. And if you don’t know, it takes us a long time before we decide to do this, and it is usually a difficult and painful decision to take. For instance it took us almost eight months after the last strike before we decided on this fresh one.
Lawal, a professor of political science continued: “ASUU is an intellectual union with people of high repute and dignity. On many occasions we have suggested ideas and alternative means of proffering lasting solution to the face-off between us and the government, but we have realised that the state and its agency are not willing to learn from the past. Take for instance when we went on strike in 2013, we reached a MoU with the Federal Government after a 13-hour marathon meeting we had with former president Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja. That is to show the world that ASUU is not always insisting that things should be done its way because we still believe in the spirit of collective bargaining and negotiation.”
On why its difficult for universities to achieve a measure of financial stability with funds from consultancy services, he said, “If you are asking university managements to start diverting the little resources from consultancy services to run their institutions, where do you fix the primary responsibility of government enshrined in the exclusive list of the constitution...”
Students Views On Industrial Action
PRESIDENT of the Student Union Government (SUG) of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Ogbidi Osemudiamen Elvis, thinks his lecturers are doing right by downing tool for the good of the sector.
Said he: “Since ASUU is deciding to fight for things that are in the interest of the students, then we see the strike action as a welcome idea. Facilities in UNIBEN are poor and this is affecting the students drastically. The government should honour the agreement they had with ASUU. As long as the strike is in support of the students, then we are in full support and stand behind ASUU. Anybody that is not in support does not want the progress of the educational sector. For a country to be developed, you have to empower the education sector.
The 300 Level student of International Studies and Diplomacy (ISD) added: “ASUU is an organised body and before they reached this conclusion, they had tried all the possible approaches, which failed. As an ISD student, I am made to understand that war is an instrument of state policy, a means to an end, but not an end itself. It is only when diplomacy fails that war is welcomed. There is no other possible approach that can be made; this is the only way the government would be made to listen.”
Abdulrahman Olufisayo, a student of the University of Lagos is interested in graduating on time and so does not want any strike action to make him stay back a day extra on campus. “As we strive as students to do our bid to learn, our lecturers and government should not stand between us and our future at any point in time. Doing so amounts to frustrating us. Government, especially should learn to honour agreements it entered into without cohesion,” he summarised.
Hello, my name is Nathaniel Ayobami . I'm a 22 year old student Nigeria .
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