The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is still on strike, especially since the case is now before the National Industrial Court, Abuja division.
Anaedoonline.ng investigations revealed that universities will soon face brain drain, with some teachers already on their way out of the country.
Students and parents are the most affected by this impasse because of the excessive lengthening of academic sessions, which has a negative impact on the financial fortunes of parents and guardians.
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Academic unions have been on strike since past administrations to show their dissatisfaction with the federal government’s indifference to the welfare of their members, as well as the infrastructural deficit that has plagued tertiary institutions in the country.
Suffice it to say that no administration since 1999 has not witnessed an ASUU strike, but the most recent, which began on February 14, 2022 after the union issued a 14-month strike notice, has further crippled the educational system. Though the Federal government has attempted to break the deadlock at various times by engaging the striking union in meetings and negotiations, the strike has continued.
ASUU had made seven key demands of the federal government, including funding for tertiary institution revitalization, payment of outstanding Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), a review of the NUC 2004 Act to address university proliferation, and a 26 percent budgetary allocation to the education sector.
Others included the implementation of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), the formation of visiting panels, delayed pay and non-remittance of union check-off dues, and addressing lecturers’ salary gap.
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According to Anaedoonline.ng, the federal government has met some of the demands, but ASUU refused to back down because of the FG’s history of not following agreements.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, blamed the ongoing strike action on the union’s failure to reach a settlement, stating that no government can meet every demand completely.
Adamu stated that the FG has offered a 23.5 percent salary increase for all lecturers and a 35 percent salary increase for professors, describing the offer as the “best” the federal government could do, despite the fact that the increase will take effect in January 2023.
He went on to say that the FG had resolved to release N200 billion in the 2023 budget for the revitalization of federal universities, as well as to pay outstanding earned allowances and ensure prompt payment of allowances as they arise to all deserving staff, and that the FG would uphold the ‘no work, no pay policy.’
The Minister stated that the current administration would not be cajoled into endorsing unrealistic agreements with ASUU in order to defuse tensions, and that ASUU should accept Nigeria’s current economic realities.
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These conciliation offers, however, did not sway ASUU, which is hell-bent on seeing all of its demands met.
Though it is clear that ASUU’s refusal is based on the minister’s position on the government’s earlier decision not to pay striking lecturers for the time they were not working, his silence on the timeline for the release of the outstanding N1.2 trillion from the 2009 and 2012 agreements is another issue.
According to the Minister, one point of contention is the proposed payment platform, which has yet to be approved by President Muhammadu Buhari because the technical committee in charge of the process has not submitted its report.
“The President is actually waiting for the report of the technical committee on the three payment platforms. I have seen one of the reports but I have not seen the final one. From what I have seen, the U3PS is probably the best followed by UTAS and IPPIS,” he said.
However, ASUU National Chairman Emmanuel Osodeke explained that the union’s demands are not only for the welfare of lecturers, but also for the refurbishment of Nigerian universities in order to attract students from all over the world.
According to him, “We’re asking for that money for Nigerian students, and Nigerian parents. The money is for building infrastructure, upgrading libraries, hostels, and lecture theatres so that students will not be having lectures through windows; so that students will not be sitting on the floor during lectures, the salaries of lecturers should be competitive.”
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The situation’s back-and-forth has put some students and their parents in a bind. Some lecturers who have received offers to teach outside the country have already left.
Dr Happiness Uduk, the Chairperson of ASUU’s Akwa Ibom State Chapter, who also confirmed that some lecturers and professors are leaving the country, said the federal government should act quickly to avert the impending doom this will bring to Nigeria’s educational system.
Though she did not specify how many lecturers and professors have left the University of Uyo, UniUyo, where she teaches, she did state that “actually, professors and other lecturers in UniUyo who had opportunities outside have left, and more are leaving the country for greener pastures.”
Students interviewed by our correspondent, on the other hand, expressed concern about the ongoing ASUU strike, urging the FG and the Union to reach an agreement so that academic activities could resume.
However, Dr Chris Ekpenyong, senator representing Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, expressed sympathy with the striking union and questioned why the federal government could not meet ASUU demands completely and once and for all.
The Senator, who described Nigeria’s educational system as dysfunctional and its infrastructure as catastrophic, urged the federal government not to fold its arms and let the institutions rot away.
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According to him, “I share the sympathy with ASUU; it is a failure of the government in power. But I’m still worried that our then president, the first time we had a PhD holder as a president, highly educated, yet there was an ASUU strike for many months. I had thought that he would be the one to find a solution to the ASUU problem, but he couldn’t.”
“ASUU had complained of brain drain, our educational system is highly dysfunctional and for government to close their eyes and refuse to adopt solutions being suggested by ASUU for the growth and development of education, as well as manpower is catastrophic; so I’m not in support of government folding their hands and say ASUU do whatever you like. There should be an agreement between ASUU and the federal government,” Ekpenyong said.
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