AVERTING ANOTHER ASUU STRIKE

It’s not in the best interest of the nation for another strike

For more than two decades, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has consistently made claims about some hundreds of billions of Naira that lecturers are owed by the federal government. Last Thursday, the Federal University Oye-Ekiti branch of ASUU commenced an indefinite strike over unpaid salaries. In a letter addressed to the institution’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Olubunmi Shittu, the union said the action was in line with a national directive of ASUU. We hope the authorities on the campus will work to quickly resolve the issue before other universities join what would be another disruption in the academic calendar of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

We align with the position of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities that the federal government should take urgent steps to avert another ASUU strike because of its dire implications. Whatever the current issues in dispute may be, it is important for the federal government and ASUU to find common grounds before the nation’s tertiary institutions are again grounded.

Students in our universities have suffered enough in recent years. This administration should work with ASUU so that our campuses are not again shut down. The federal government and ASUU had for several years been locked in running battles over the implementation of agreements reached several years ago. The consequences have been lengthy industrial strikes by lecturers, with the attendant debilitating effects on educational development in particular, and academic pursuits in general.

We believe that this administration should resolve the issue once and for all.  Nigeria and Nigerians will be the losers should any untoward action, like another industrial action, be embarked upon by university teachers. Strikes have contributed significantly to the decline in the quality of graduates of our public universities. The hurried academic calendars, following the end of industrial actions, allow for little attention to serious studies, or research. That is why our public universities have continued to go down the ladder of academic ranking, even among their peers in Africa.

Beyond resolving the immediate issues, stakeholders in the sector must begin to fashion enduring solutions to what has become a persistent problem. We cannot shy away from the fact that underfunding of the education sector, over the years, has had collateral damaging effects on the country, such that our universities have now become grotesque carcasses of their former glorious selves. But dealing with the challenge requires more than seasonal strikes while the federal government also needs to understand the primacy of constant dialogue, especially given the current realities.

However, going forward requires other critical stakeholders in the education sector joining in the efforts to find a lasting solution to what has become a perplexing national challenge. In doing this, the federal government should take the initiative, so that we can collectively come up with ways to reposition tertiary education in our country. It is unfortunate that disputes are always occasioned by the broken promises and unfulfilled agreements. Yet there is no way we can develop our country until efforts are made to revitalise key sectors like education.

What the foregoing therefore means is that another strike by ASUU would not be in the interest of the nation. While we call on the lecturers to tamper their expectations with realism, we also hope the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa and his team will do everything within their powers to avert another strike that will cripple tertiary education in the country.