University teachers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have embarked on another round of strike following the Federal Government’s failure to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2009.
Despite overtures by government, including holding talks with the leadership of the union, its National President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, had maintained that the indefinite industrial action embarked upon by its members would not be called off until the contentious issues involved are resolved.
Despite overtures by government, including holding talks with the leadership of the union, its National President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, had maintained that the indefinite industrial action embarked upon by its members would not be called off until the contentious issues involved are resolved.
Among ASUU’s demands, two major issues stand out. They are increased funding for the universities and the implementation of the 70 years retirement age for university professors. ASUU is dismayed that government has failed to honour the agreement it reached with it two years ago. In the thinking of ASUU leadership represented by Awuzie, government has deliberately refused to honour the agreement.
But in a recent meeting with Senate Committee on Education chaired by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, explained that nine of the 19 items agreed upon by government and the union had been fully implemented.
The minister, who recognized retirement age as one of the major concerns in the demand said that a Bill to implement it is before the National Assembly.
She said that affected staff who may retire before the passage of the bill will be offered contract appointments which would be regularized when the bill takes effect.
While academic activities have been grounded in the nation’s universities as a result of the strike, non-teaching staff of these institutions have also given notice of a nationwide strike by their unions. They are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
Like ASUU, they too are demanding, amongst others, the immediate implementation of the 65 years retirement age for non-teaching staff and increased funding of the universities. If they make good their threat, our universities will be the worse for it.
Frequent strike in the nation’s universities, whether instigated by ASUU or any other union, does not augur well for serious teaching and research, expected in these citadels of learning. Strikes have disrupted the academic calendars of these institutions and equally contributed to the lowering of academic standards and production of poor quality graduates.
These problems will further be compounded if the government does not do anything positive to stem the tide of strike in the universities. Let government wade into the matter with the seriousness it deserves and address the concerns of the affected university workers.
Government can begin by showing demonstrable will that it wants to implement the 2009 agreement it freely entered into with ASUU and other sister unions in the universities so that industrial peace can reign on the campuses.
While we expect that from government, university teachers and their non-teaching counterparts must realise that strike has been overused in Nigerian universities that it is beginning to lose its relevance as a tool of negotiation and settling of industrial dispute.
Being researchers, let the striking workers come up with other creative and pragmatic ways of dealing with trade disputes rather than resorting to strike every time.
Therefore, we urge all the parties to the trade dispute to dialogue and iron out their differences and amicably settle the matter once and for all for peace to reign on our campuses.
Government need not wait until trade unions rattle it to action. When a government enters into an agreement, the onus is for it to fulfill such agreement to the letter without being coerced or arm-twisted to do so.
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