By Boma Nwuke
On February 14, The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) began a one month warning strike to protest alleged breach of Memorandum of Action ( MoA) signed between the union and the Federal Government in 2020.
The MoA primarily focused on improvement of condition of service for members of ASUU which includes Earned Academic Allowance, Deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution ( UTAS) , Amendment of the University Act and N1.3 trillion funding for the Universities.
The two parties agreed on a formula that would enable the payment of the said sum in tranches but the government allegedly breached the agreement thus pushing ASUU to begin a warning strike.
That warning strike ended on March 14 without success and was extended for eight more weeks. ASUU had explained that the extension was to “give the Federal Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues” The two months extension expired on May 8 without agreement between the Government negotiating team and the ASUU side leaving the union to embark on an indefinite strike on May 9.
Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, Chairman of ASUU said the strike became neccessary because the Federal Government had refused to meet their demands.
The strike is a living testament to the proverb of the Kikuyu people in Kenya that when two elephants fight,it is the grass that suffers.
The grass in this context is the students who are forced out of universities for no fault of theirs.
ASUU has embarked on 16 strikes in 23 years and each time,it is the student that suffers.
Each time the union begins a strike and it lingers, the academic calendar is disrupted and disallows timely students promotion from one class to the other and also affects their graduation .
Nigeria has a total of 43 Federal Universities, 54 States Universities and 99 accredited private universities as at June 2022.
ASUU ‘s frequent strikes have resulted in the rise of enrollments in private schools.
This is happening at a time of great difficulty foisted on Nigerians by mismanagement of economic resources and opportunities and corruption in high places .
In a country of about 200 million people with 95million poor leaves much to be desired especially when assimilating the true definition of the word ” Poor”
There are about six social classes in Nigeria. First is the elite class comprising the rich and powerful, those who occupy top government offices and multi national establishments, and businessmen who own multi billion naira companies. There is also the upper middle class consisting of highly educated and wealthy professionals, the middle class consisting of college graduates employed in industries and public service , the lower middle class consisting of semi educated people working in public service and private ventures and lastly the very poor who own little or no possession.
Statistics conducted in the course of this commentary showed that children of the elite class and upper middle class are either attending schools outside the shores of the country are in private schools in the country schooling undisturbed by strikes.
In some private Universities such as Afebabalola, fees for freshman year in some courses begin with over a million naira. The least fees put at N583,000 and N603,000 go to those studying Education, Arts and Humanities.
For Baze University located in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, the fee also varies. The basic fee for students in faculties of Management, Social Sciences, Computing and applied sciences is two million and four hundred and seventy five naira ( N2,475,000) For students in Engineering,Law and Medical Sciences the fee is higher and fixed at two million and seven hundred and fifty thousand naira ( N2,750,000).
From the given findings, it is difficult for children of lower middle class and poor homes to seek admission into private schools.
For purpose of putting the record straight, the salaries of those who work in public service are at variance with the prevailing economic challenges and impact.
Moreso, the national minimum wage to give nigerian workers a new salary structure signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 18,2019 was only N30,000 and inadequate to address the yawning challenges workers face in the country.
The N30,000 minimum wage which some states have complied was taken through the back door by hike in electricity tariffs and inflationary prices of petroleum products.
These have pushed the Nigerian worker and dependants to acute poverty lines.
For the students, going to school in striking universities across the country is a nightmare and frustrating . For the parents, it is a flurry of a failed educational system gushing on study of innocent children. For the larger society, it is simply a recurring feature and the price of system failure which should not be allowed to stand.
On this account, the Nigerian Organised Labour has threatened to embark on a one day national strike to force the Federal Government to close up negotiations with ASUU to enable resumption of academic activities.
NLC president, Ayuba Wabba made this known at the opening of the Congress Central Working Meeting last Thursday in Abuja.
Experiences of past protests showed that some are highjacked by hoodlums and opposition elements. For this reason,it is expedient for the federal government to sort out differences with ASUU to give peace a chance.
ASUU ‘s demands are germane not ludicrous. Universities must be well funded and infrastructurally equipped for conducive teaching and learning and to attract foreign enrollment and investment. Lecturers have to be well paid to carry out their primary goal of promoting learning, to instil Positive Action into students cognitive, affective and behavioral learning domains.
Children are the leaders of tommorow and for them to actualise leadership roles, their education should not be compromised or taken for granted. Their future should not be sacrificed on the alters of incessant strikes . There is a limit to tolerance and endurance. The Federal Government should not watch while the public school, a safe place for students from lower backgrounds degenerates to the lowest ebb even as the current situation of the supposed strongholds for learning are mere shadows of what universities globally look like.
Time is now for government to go back to the negotiation table with ASUU and stop this madness called strike. Time is of essence.
Let our children go back to school.
