The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had in February2022 declared a one-month warning strike over the federal government’s refusal to honour agreements signed by both parties.
The Union would later extend the strike by another eight weeks over government’s wayward position on the deployment of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and implementation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement which still remains at the level of mere proposals, fruitless and empty assurances.
Sadly, with the rollover strike set to end in less than two weeks, there is anxiety that the impasse may not be resolved soon as the last meeting between the two parties ended in a stalemate.
As it stands, there’s no tangible commitment on the part of the federal government in resolving the crisis as blame games continued to dominate the process.
Last week, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, while featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, told the union to meet with the Benimi Briggs Committee, stating that the decision to suspend industrial action embarked upon by ASUU could only be taken by the union.
On when the issue will be resolved, the minister had said, “It depends on ASUU. The ball is in their court. They should go and meet the Benimi Briggs Committee and look at what the committee is doing and make further inputs so that the work can be accelerated.”
Meanwhile, the Union has condemned the federal government’s handling of the negotiation on its demands and nonchalant attitude towards the ongoing strike
In a recent interview with the press, the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said it was shameful for Ngige to tell the union to go and liaise with another party other than the government.
He added that the union might have no choice but to roll over the strike after its expiration. “The rollover ends in two weeks, and there is no information, nothing new from the FG. They didn’t make any effort to get in touch with us or seek ways of ending the strike.”
However, Nigerian students have continued to condemn the incessant strike actions in the nation’s educational sector.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, a cross section of university undergraduates lamented their ordeals during the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by ASUU which has lasted for more than two months.
Cletus Tser, an undergraduate student of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, while condemning the strike action, said it has caused great harm to Nigerian students and the universities in general.
“I feel terribly bad about the strike, because as an undergraduate I cannot talk of a complete semester lectures as a result of the strike,” adding that he has suffered for staying away from school which left him with no option than to look for a menial job to sustain himself.
Speaking further, he said the disruption in the academic calendar has adversely affected the students.
In her reaction, a student of Economics, University of Abuja, who identified herself as Chidimma, said the strike has affected her a lot because she would have been a graduate by now if not because of ASUU strikes, but was still battling with university education.
She expressed optimism that in a matter of months from now, she would be a graduate and will not experience ASUU strike again. “ I pray to God to intervene in this crisis and save the lives of Nigerian students because He is the only one with a solution,” she said
