The unending ASUU Strikes and Government inconsistency

The unending ASUU Strikes and Government inconsistency.

By: Sani Danaudi Mohammed

AREWA AGENDA – The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a Nigerian union of university academic staff, founded in 1978. ASUU is an offshoot of the Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT) which was established in 1965. At that time, NAUT consisted of only 5 universities in total including the University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ife and University of Lagos.

The union that started with five universities have now burgeoned to close to a hundred in 44 years.
Available records as of September 2021, There are 170 universities in Nigeria.79 were private, Federal universities amounted to 43 and State universities were 48. Almost all except Private and few Public Universities are members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. Federal University Nsukka Enugu State, Federal University of Ilorin and Delta State University are the only Public Universities that are not enlisted as Members according to the ASUU Wikipedia.

It was formed during the period of the beginning of the decline in the oil boom when the country faced the consequences of the failure of its rulers to use the oil wealth to generate production and a social welfare system. Military dictatorship had eroded deeply the basic freedoms in the society. Academic freedom and university autonomy were casualties of military dictatorship. The funding of education, and so of universities, became poorer. The factors required a changed orientation of the union of academics from 1980.

The union’s orientation became radical, more concerned with broad national issues, and stood firmly against oppressive, undemocratic policies of the country. They stood against broad national issues such as anti-military struggles, the struggles against military rule, the struggle against privatization, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), and the World Bank’s attempt to take over the universities, for example, the World Bank 120 million dollars (US) loan under Babangida’s military rule and the Nigerian Universities Innovation Project (NUSIP) during Obasanjo’s regime; the struggle against the re-colonisation of Nigeria and Debt peonage.

In 1985, the Buhari-Idiagbon regime began a programme of retrenchment of workers and wage freeze. It clamped down on the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) when the doctors went on strike to protest the sharp deterioration of the health services in Nigeria; ASUU supported the doctors union. The government sacked doctors, arrested and detained NMA and NARD leaders, as well as ASUU leaders.ASUU was central to the resistance to Buhari-Idiagbon regime’s termination of the cafeteria system and the withdrawal of subsidies on accommodation.

It had also struggled with several Governments both the Military and civilian regimes and its concerns were funding, salaries, autonomy and academic freedom, the brain drain and the survival of the university system.ASUU also worked with separate industrial unions and NLC State Chapters. It took on debates on the direction and context of national economic, educational and other policies. Throughout the military period, ASUU waged its struggles around and return to civilian rule in 1999 to date,a number of strikes have been recorded.

Since the return of the fourth republic in 1999 and ASUU has gone on strikes 16 times. The records are worth scrutinizing for the purpose of history and research. In 1999, ASUU went on Strike for five months, three months in 2001, two weeks in 2002, six months in 2003, 2005 two weeks, 2006 three days, 2007 three months, 2008 one week,2009 four months, 2010 five months,2011 fifty-nine days,2013 five months,2017 one month,2018 three months,2020 nine months and now from February 14, 2022, to date. These unding strikes are consumed the future of millions of young Nigerians even though ASUU continues to claim that it is involved in a struggle for Nigerian tertiary education and Nigerian students by extension many Nigerians perceive the supposed struggle, marked by incessant strike actions, to be malicious and self serving.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the university funding situation was so acute that governments could not bear the strain of funding higher learning institutions. This is due to the growth in enrolment numbers in higher education during the 1990s, with global enrolments growing from 68.6 million in 1990-91 to 110.7 million in 2001-02, which included growth in developing nations, from 29.3 million to 58.3 million over the same period in Africa (UNESCO, 2004). Nigeria is not an exception to these projections as our population is heading towards with our population heading towards world records of 400 million in 2030 with an increased number of out of school children.

A number of Nigerian universities have faced challenges like failure to pay lecturers on time, underfunding of research, high turnover of experienced professors, crumbling physical infrastructure, strikes by lecturers and students, poor international ratings and a lack of teaching materials among others. There are also challenges of government interference that influenced university governance and lack of free internal participation has to poor performance in the Nigerian education system. The inconsistency of the authorities concerns to honour and implement the 2008 ASUU/FG signed agreement has caused both the students, parents and the educational system a whole century of damage.

Transforming Nigeria from a developing to a developed country, the Nigerian government must do its utmost to increase and sustain its funding of University Education with priorities on courses that are problem-Solving. The incontestable truth is that no nation can rise beyond the level of its education. It is crucial for the government to gravitate towards the recommended benchmark of nations allocating 20 to 26 per cent of their annual budgets to education. Allocating less than 10 per cent of its annual budget (a far cry from the recommended benchmark) will not enable Nigeria to facilitate, among others, sustained access to quality education for the benefit of all Nigerian children of school age. It is incontrovertible that the more the commitment of the Nigerian government towards the increased funding of its University education, the more the chances of taking Nigeria to the pedestal of a First World nation.

Quite a number of Nigerians keep asking question’ What changed the Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu’s position on ASUU? He dedicated a whole column in the Daily Trust newspaper on the 15th of November 2013 to explain the reasons ASUU was always on avoidable but necessary strike, which was due to the government’s lackadaisical and unwarranted attitude. This explains the Government’s inconsistency and unsustainable policies and programs that should have written off completely the unending ASUU Strikes in Nigeria. The suggestion that the union be split will end up consuming completely the University System especially the State owned Universities as the autocratic tendencies of many Governors cannot be trusted.

The Federal Government agreed to renegotiate the 2009 agreement to review the university’s conditions of service. The key areas that need to be addressed are Funding for the revitalisation of tertiary institutions, Payment of outstanding earned academic allowances (EAA), Renegotiation of 2009 agreements, Review of NUC 2004 Act to tackle the proliferation of universities,26 per cent budgetary allocation to education sector, Implementation of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), Constitution of visitation panels, Withheld salaries and non-remittance of check-off dues of unions and Salary shortfall.ASUU must shift its grounds beyond the perfection phobia to give room for a round roundtable discussion and the Federal Government should deal with this National problem without playing to the glary of politics.

The Nigerian Government must emphasize and encourage the growth of University education on the basis that higher education is a potentially transformational area of investment. This is because higher education has far-reaching social and political impacts in terms of creating policies and implementing projects that will drive the nation’s development agenda. This is only attainable if universities produce intellectuals and research findings of the highest calibre, which is why public universities need adequate financing. The notion that Nigeria cannot afford over a trillion to meet ASUU demands is unfortunate in a country where education received less attention while political Office holders representing a few numbers of the over 200 million are paid higher.

Finally, Even though the Nigerian University education system cannot be isolated from the current surrounding social and economic influences, university financing has to take this into account. The ASUU despite its success in pressing its demands which led to the establishment of key funding agencies like TETFUND and other documented legacies must come to terms with the FG considering the current economic challenges to return to class. The FG on its part must look at this ongoing Strike from an economic development perspective, higher education and training is the motivator of economic growth to use great amounts of public funds to support universities. This is the way Nigeria can grow as the giant of Africa and as a pride of the black race. Education is key.

Danaudi,National President of Arewa Youths advocate for Peace and Unity Initiative, Writes from Bauchi via [email protected].