Staff Union of Universities, which
started on July 1, 2013, has come
with both pains and gains and mixed
reactions, with students eager to
return to academic work
With the Academic Staff Union of
Universities remaining adamant in
pushing through their demands by going
on strike, academic activities have been
paralysed throughout the nation's
universities leading once again to the
loss of appreciable academic time by the
students.
This strike, which is on in protest of the
non-implementation of the 2009
agreement with the Federal
Government, is delicately poised with
both parties not knowing yet what it will
take to win.
While some have described the action as
just another strike that may produce no
purposeful ending, the union leadership
believes that it will bring a revolution to
the country's education system.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge
argued that the union had embarked on
the strike to compel the Federal
Government to address some other
important issues endangering the quality
of education in the country.
He said, "We are embarking on indefinite
strike because the Federal Government
reneged in the Memorandum of
Understanding signed with ASUU in 2009
to pay lecturers their allowance."
Throwing more light on the Academic
Earned Allowance, ASUU chairman
University of Lagos chapter, Dr. Karo
Ogbinaka, said it included allowances
paid as part of excess work load,
responsibility allowance and allowance
for supervision of Post Graduate
Programmes for lecturers, head of
department, deans and exam officers,
among others. He added that the
highest allowance is not more than N12,
500 per month, wondering why it has
remained difficult for government to live
up to its promises.
But the lingering strike has infuriated
some of the students who seemed to
have lost their patience with their
lecturers and the Federal Government.
Some of them told SUNDAY PUNCH that
the feuding parties have no regard for
their future.
Sikiru Akinola, a Political Science student
at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-
Ife, would have graduated in December
but his hopes of stepping into the next
stage of his life are thinning daily as the
strike continues. He expresses his
frustration at being idle as a result of the
inability of both parties to resolve the
issue, pointing out that irregular school
calendar in public institutions places
their counterparts in private institutions
over them when looking for
employment.
He said, "I had my eyes set on
December after four years at the
university but with the strike, the
calendar will definitely be affected and
that is one of the things making
graduates unemployable.
"Imagine a private university student
graduating at 20 and 21 while we
graduate at 27. I've been in school since
the last seven years (NCE and Degree).
It would be unfair if my time in the
university has to be extended because of
a fault I did not have a hand in. One of
the reasons why public university
graduates are getting it difficult to be
employed is because they usually
graduate at the average age of 27 while
those in private school graduate at 20
and 21."
He added that lecturers had taken the
strike too far this time. "Though, we are
in support of our lecturers, it is the
belief of majority of our students that
the union is being insincere with their
latest showdown with government. Each
time there is an ASUU strike, the
students are always at the receiving end.
Rather than embark on a strike which
cannot solve their problems, they should
use other means to press for their
demands. Perhaps if there is a law that
forces all political office holders to enrol
their children in Nigerian universities,
the schools would be better than what it
is today. Dialogue and not strike, can
achieve a lasting solution."
Akinola's position on the strike is
supported by Toyosi Oguntuase, who is
studying Law at the University of Ibadan.
Oguntuase said the strike had created a
gap between the students and academic
work.
She said, "You cannot stay connected
fully to your studies when you are at
home and once the strike ends,
examinations will start in order to make
up with the time lost. The lecturers will
not have the chance to complete
teaching the content of our syllabuses.
This utterly destroys our school calendar
and curriculum. It also destroys the
standard of our education and draws the
students back."
The law student also wondered if the
parties involved had children in the
affected institutions.
"I feel that this strike is really unfair to
students considering the fact that some
of the people involved in the strike don't
have their children in public universities.
Also, it shouldn't have come when
students are preparing for their
examinations. The union should use on
other methods to make their demands
instead of frustrating the students in
their academic works."
A final year student of Metallurgical and
Materials Engineering at the Federal
University of Technology, Akure,
Onigbajumo Adetunji-Bouquiey, said
Nigerian leaders have failed to pay back
the nation for the free education and
scholarships thy enjoyed in the past.
He said, "The generation is unlucky
because they are not enjoying what our
leaders enjoyed when they were going
to school. They had free education and
scholarships to study abroad even when
their parents could not afford the quality
of education they had. Our own
generation has been cheated because
the same leaders who had sound
education in their own time now
consider quality education unaffordable
for the poor and less-privileged. Some of
these leaders were products of the same
universities but they no longer take
pride in the same system that made
them."
However, Ekong Utibe, who is a final year
student of Mathematics and Statistics at
the Federal University of Technology,
Minna, urged the Federal Government to
look into the demands of the academic
staff.
"The Federal Government should look
into the union's proposal as quickly as
possible and agree to whatever issues
they have brought up. The final year
students are affected because they are
doing nothing when they should be
preparing for the final examinations."
But while the students are counting
their losses, lecturers are waiting to reap
if the Federal Government accedes to
their demands. In the meantime, some
of them are using the opportunity to
focus on private projects.
Prof. Ahmed Rufai of the Department of
Fine Art, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira
said that the strike has given the
opportunity to focus on other academic
activities.
He said, "I see no gain in the strike, I
feel the Federal Government is the only
one gaining from the strike. So many
Federal Institutions lack good
infrastructures, facilities are in shambles,
but the Federal Government seems not
to be bothered.
"As much as we lecturers don't support
the strike, we can't sit down doing
nothing. I'm using the opportunity to
write an article which has a deadline of
August 2. Aside this, I spend quality time
with my family."
Prof. Sunday Ogunduyile of the
Department of Industrial Design, FUTA,
said he was using the break to write
some journals.
"I have written so many papers for
publication within this short period.
Sometimes I browse the internet to
update my knowledge or reach out to
friends who I've not had contact with in
a long time. We just have to keep
ourselves busy and make use of the
break. But this doesn't mean we are
happy about the strike because at the
end of the day we still have to complete
the syllabus, which puts more pressure
on lecturers," he said.
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