ASUU Strike: A pyrrhic victory?

With the end in sight of the four-month 13 days strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), parents, students, university administrators, and even the lecturers are relieved that the battle is finally over. However, it has been a long arduous battle leaving many questions about whether the gains of the strike outweigh the losses or vice versa.

The strike started on July 1 with the union adamant about the Federal Government implementing the 2009 Federal Government/ASUU agreement or nothing. They wanted the Federal Government to immediately inject N500 billion into universities for badly needed infrastructural development, and pay N92 billion as earned allowances to lecturers in line with the agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding that issued from it last year.

Their rejection of the government’s N100 billion for infrastructure and N30 billion for earned allowances in August made the strike drag until President Goodluck Jonathan met with leaders of the union headed by Dr Nassir Fagge last week. Though the outcome of the meeting was not made public, it was reported that President Jonathan promised to release N220 billion yearly in the next five years, starting from next year. It is unknown whether the issue of earned allowances was broached.

With the President’s promise of N220 billion as against the N400 billion originally documented in the agreement, was the strike worth it? Opinions differ among lecturers, parents, students on the gains and losses of the strike.

 

Gains

What the strike has achieved means many things to many people. For some, its strongest gain is that the Federal Government now understands that the academics are not pushovers and will not just accept anything shoved down their throats.

Dr Thomas Ashiple, a lecturer at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), said from the way ASUU insisted that the government respects the agreement, it would be careful to avoid such situations in future.

He said: “Irrespective of what people would like to think I feel the gains of this strike far outweigh its pains. I actually have a son in the University of Calabar, so I’m not just talking because it does not concern me. This is in the sense that it deals with the very foundation of everything that is wrong with this country. That is the need to do things right. The Federal Government had an agreement with the union on implementing certain financial commitments to better the educational system for everybody, but instead of looking straight at the matter and dealing with it, they resort to pandering to sentiments to deal with the situation which is what is wrong with this country. I believe if things go the way ASUU wants, it would not just be a victory for them in this matter. It would be way more than that. It would be a statement and it would set a proper precedent for the future.”

Patrick Nsor, a parent, agreed with him, saying: “I would say the Federal Government has learnt a lesson which should go to all authorities in the country that we must always abide by agreements. What is happening right now is just the consequence of lack of respect for agreements. Besides this, I don’t see any other gain closing down our educational institutions can create.”

For some others the strike is a success because the Federal Government has now released more funds to public universities. If ASUU had not been adamant, another parent (names withheld) said the money would not have been released and universities would still be suffering lack like before.

“It has made the government to realise that tertiary institutions have been cheated for so long and that is why the President himself joined the negotiation with ASUU to show his commitment to solving the problem. I think ASUU has made a point and made government to meet some of their demands. At least, 70 per cent of ASUU demands have been met by the government. With this, I do not think government would toy with the future of the students anymore.”

Dr Ismail Saheed, a Lecturer I in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ibadan, said the increased funding means universities can produce better graduates, which makes the struggle worthwhile.

“I am in support of ASUU. The strike will make the government spend more on the education sector. It means that if the government agrees to the demands of ASUU, then there would be improvement in educational facilities, such as libraries, hostels, laboratories and lecture rooms. I believe this will add more to the quality of graduates we produce,” he said.

Saheed also did not see the four months the universities were shut as a loss.

“To me, the strike does not have any negative effects. Although some may think it will extend their stay on campus but if we look at the issue holistically, staying for long is not really the problem but the most important thing is to have schools with the necessary infrastructure to produce competent graduates,” he added.

 

The Losses

Many more people believed the losses were more than the gains. However, for the members of ASUU, the greatest casualty of the strike was Prof Festus Iyayi, who died in a motor accident on Tuesday on his way to Kano for the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of ASUU, where the final decision on whether or not the strike should end, was taken.

Iyayi, a former president of the union, was at the forefront of the struggle, carrying placards with younger members when they took to the streets of Benin to protest government’s insensitivity in breaching the agreement about three weeks ago.

Of his death, the ASUU Chairman of Kano State University of Science and Technology (KUST) chapter, Dr Abdulkadir Muhammad, said: “As I am speaking to you now, ASUU has lost Dr. Festus Iyayi of the University of Benin who died in a ghastly motor accident on his way to Kano to attend the ASUU NEC meeting on Wednesday. You can imagine the impact of this great loss to Uniben, Dr. Iyayi’s family and friends and the nation’s education sector.”

A former chairman of ASUU-UNIBEN chapter, Comrade Idaevhor Bello, said the government was responsible for Iyayi’s death because it prolonged the strike.

“Some of us hold the government responsible for his death. If the government had realised that they needed a functional education it would not have happened. It is the government’s disinterestedness in education that has resulted in the protracted ASUU strike,” he said.

For many others, the four months lost to the strike would be difficult to recover by lecturers and students.

Dr Muhammad said with the strike, the academic calendar is in disarray.

He said: “The losses are greater than the gains because students in all the institutions have lost time of academic activities, a development which will adversely affect their academic performance, following the distortion in the academic calendar.

“You can recall that before the beginning of the strike, most universities had conducted the post-UTME examinations and the new students awaiting their results are in confusion. The students are now redundant at home; while graduating students who were supposed to receive their call-up letters for national service have remained frustrated.”

Prof Ayo Yussuf of the Department of Linguistics, African and Religious Studies, University of Lagos, said lecturers were as badly affected as students by the loss of time resulting from the strike.

“It simply means for ASUU, we have lost our vacation. As soon as school resumes, we have to start teaching students and preparing them for examinations. If, for instance, a lecturer has 10 items on his course list and he has taught only eight before the strike, he must complete the remaining two when school resumes. Besides, we conduct researches, attend conferences and even supervise projects during strike. What I am saying is that ASUU activities are always put on hold during strikes, and we carry on from where we left once we resume,” he said.

For Charles Effiong, a student of the University of Calabar, four months is a long time to lose touch with school work.

“For me as a student, what is important is to go to school. The effect of this strike is already telling on me. Personally, I am beginning to feel that I am losing touch with my studies. It is to this extent that I feel the pain quite hard,” he said.

Sarah Etumuniratu a 100-Level student of Political Science at the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, engaged in part-time work so earned money during the strike. However, that money would also have to go in paying rent for extra months in off-campus accommodation when school resumes.

“The strike also has negative effects on those who secure accommodation off campus. It means they have to pay additional house rents for the four months duration of the strike which they did not budget for,” she said.

A final-year student of the Delta State University, Etoh Mejire Andrew, said the extension of the academic calendar means greater financial burden on his parents.

“An extra year in school ultimately implies additional financial cost for my parents in terms of campus accommodation and other logistics. It also means an extension in the service year. While I should have gone for youth service by June next year, it might not be possible as I will have to count five months extra,” he said.

For some parents, the losses are so painful that whatever the strike may have achieved is difficult to celebrate.

Mrs Marina Osoba, a parent, said everyone involved in the university system has suffered losses.

“Well, definitely, there are no winners; everybody as regards the ASUU strike right now is a loser. The lecturers are losers because they have not been able to be productive or impact what they have; the students are losers because they have lost so much time, they have not been able to write their final year exams and they have not been able to move forward and even the schools themselves and the society have all lost. But, hopefully, this strike will be the strike that ends all strikes, that’s what I’m praying for.

Another parent, Mrs Joy Godswill said the long strike made female students vulnerable.

“I can’t start counting the losses because it’s just too painful to imagine. Most of the students have been whiling away their time in loss; talk of parties, clubbing, just name it. The female students are even more at risk; if you should conduct a research on this, you will find out that 50 per cent of the females are either pregnant, rushed into marriage or about to, not to talk of abortions,” she said.

Another parent, who works at the University of Ibadan, Mr Murtala Lawal, said it was a shame that the strike had to go on for so long to get anything from the government.

“Let us set the aspect of gain aside and talk about the losses. Keeping our children away from school alone is a big problem. If we want to talk about gain, is it on the part of the lecturers or the government? It is very cumbersome to discuss. As much as you know Nigeria, even in the family sector, if they don’t go on strike the government will continue to say they will fulfill their promise without fulfilling it,” he said.

Prof Olu Akesusola, Provost, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), faulted the government for reneging on the agreement, claiming ASUU did not put the students’ interest at heart. He said prolonged strikes would only lead to the exodus of students from public to private universities.

He said: “Proprietors of private universities are very intelligent. They studied public institutions system in Nigeria and realised it is replete with strikes. So, they conceived the private university idea to discourage parents who are sending their children overseas to study because of their disaffection with the system. They are saying: ‘Here, we can equally offer you what universities abroad can offer at competitive rates and in an environment where they (students) will also imbibe African culture. And true, they are winning the battle.”

 

Is this the end of ASUU strikes?

The thought of another lengthy strike in future is something stakeholders do not like. However, some believe the chances of a reoccurrence are high.

On his part, Mr Yinka Odumakin, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, said strikes cannot resolve the problems in universities. He recommends that ownership of universities should be decentralised along geo-political lines so that each zone caters for the needs of their institutions.

He said: “I think that this ASUU strike cannot be resolved. ASUU has been on strike for 21years since 1992. Under Jega and between 1992 and now they just call it off and resume. Until we decentralise we can’t resolve this thing. For someone to seat in Abuja and says he is the minister of education and want to manage the education in Nigeria, it’s not possible. Let us return these universities to regions; let them be managed at that level.”

Former Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof Wale Omole also says there is a likelihood that the strike would come again in future. However, if the Federal Government would respect the pact, there would be no need for strikes.

He said: “This problem has been recurring since1992. This 2009 agreement was drawn from the one of 1992. Now government has promised to pay this for the next five years; so if next year they don’t pay again that is a problem. That shouldn’t happen. When government speaks it should be sacrosanct.”

Former Registrar of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Princess Adetope Kosoko, added that for strikes to end in future, ASUU and the Federal Government must be in agreement on what can be implemented and how it should be done.

“My own candid opinion is to get it right this time meaning that ASUU should ensure that whatever agreement they are going into with the federal government is an agreement that is implementable that our tertiary institutions will be rated highly,” she said.

 

The post ASUU Strike: A pyrrhic victory? appeared first on The Nation.

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