A Strike Too Many – By Arnold A. Alalibo

Posted by admin Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, Education, NNP Columnists Tuesday, August 27th, 2013

By Arnold A. Alalibo | NNP | August 27, 2013 – The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, ASUU, took the nation by storm recently when it declared an indefinite strike action to press home the implementation of an agreement it reached with the federal government in 2009 and a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, it signed in 2011.

This development calls to question the lackadaisical approach to strike actions by governments in our country which poses grave concern to many Nigerians. Day in day out, one hears nothing else but strike actions embarked upon by various labour unions in the country, for either frivolous or serious reasons. Government has however not helped matters as it has made strike an official language of a sort. That is the problem Nigerians face daily.

The situation is daring and looks bleaker by the day. The questions one may need to ask are that; Why are warnings preceding strike actions not heeded to by the authorities? Why do the authorities and owners of tertiary institutions in the country have unique tendencies to violate agreements they willfully enter into with their employees?

It worries me and indeed Nigerians that the government has failed to see the long time effect of its inadvertence on education. Is this not the reason our universities have consistently been on the lowest rung of global university ratings? This particular development has brought shame to many of those parading degrees that were issued by these same institutions.

Of particular concern is the brain drain that has characterised the sector and rendered it unattractive to potential lecturers. Because of the cruel treatment lecturers get from the government, many of them have left for other African countries, Europe and America for greener pastures and we have failed to do something about the situation to stem the tide.

What are the grievances of ASUU members? The union claims that the 2009 agreement it reached with the government has been breached severally. And that only two out of the nine items agreed upon have been honoured four years after? The real issue here is why would government legally enter into agreements and renege on such thereafter?

It beats one’s imagination that matters regarding education are handled with utmost levity, while political issues are taken more seriously. Yet everyone knows that we cannot develop if education is relegated to the background in the scheme of things. The fact that government waits until lecturers go on strike before taking action is an indication that something is amiss with the system. When shall we get to a time when lecturers will no longer embark on strike actions to get what is due them?

Given the current security situation in the country, it is foolhardy to create any predicament that will keep students out of the classroom and make them loiter such as the current ASUU strike is wont to achieve. Some of the students affected by the strike could engage in nefarious activities or join criminal gangs outrightly to perpetrate crimes. This is why this issue involving ASUU members must be resolved urgently in order to get the students back to the classroom.

ASUU’s strike and that of their counterparts in the polytechnics who had embarked on a similar action for the past two months, is an indication that the federal government acted unwisely in establishing nine new universities at a time most of the existing ones are suffering from poor funding. The establishment of new universities is not the challenge tertiary institutions in the country face at the moment. Rather, it makes more sense to reduce the number of universities to a manageable size.

I believe that this is one strike that is completely avoidable, but made inevitable by the federal government’s insensitivity and penchant for reneging on agreements. It is completely unacceptable. The issues articulated by ASUU are not self-serving but tenable, valid and germane for the sustenance of a qualitatively viable education system.

Frequent strikes by university lecturers to compel government to meet its obligation have become very worrisome. Curiously, the issues at the root of the crisis are matters that had been agreed upon by both parties in the interest of tertiary education in Nigeria. Hence, it is wrong for government to continue to treat its 2009 agreement with ASUU with levity. Not only with ASUU, but other labour unions as well.wp_posts