From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Fred Ezeh and Idu Jude, Abuja
As the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ nationwide strike continues into the sixth month, parents and guardians of students are feeling the effects. Like other Nigerians from all walks of life, they are putting pressure on the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that the negative impacts on the lives of future generations and, indeed, the existence of Nigeria are minimal.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions last week held a nationwide solidarity protest with ASUU to drive home the demands of Nigerians.
To this end, Daily Sun gathered that parents and civil society organisation (CSOs) may stage another mega protest to press home their demands.
Elder Charles Olili, a parent, whose two children are in Edo State University and Nasarawa State University, respectively, who is seriously concerned about their continuous stay at home, said: “When lecturers go on strike, parents bear the brunt of the cost of sustenance, which triples the normal daily expenditure. And no parent ever plans for a long period of strike.
“Let me tell you, I am not a happy father when I see children who are supposed to spend a certain number of years at university wasting away at home. You see, if I had my way, I would have sent them to private universities where they would not waste any more time. When the older ones graduated from federal universities, I thought they were the best, but as time passed they have become the worst place for children to seek university education due to government misdeeds.
“I’m lucky my children are not engaged in any of these vices. They have devised the means of studying on the Net to help themselves but how many parents are that lucky?”
Olili said all hands must be on deck to press the government to ensure that Nigerian children receive education as a constitutional right, as is done elsewhere in the world.
“There is a move to galvanize parents and other CSOs to stage a rally cum protest; perhaps it will send a signal to this administration that sees nothing good in the education of the young and future Nigerians. They have forgotten that any country that abandons education has no future.
“Yes, that of the NLC is good, but we’re talking about the parents of these children here. We know that they are about to destroy our children’s future by denying them education, thereby enslaving them in the future. It is not going to happen. All of their children are in school or have been educated abroad, so how can you justify that what this government tells us every day is true?
“My advice to the government is to act quickly and find solutions before Nigerians take to the streets in protest, because the ASUU issue affects everyone. I believe they should act quickly and pay them; if the FG can negotiate with Boko Haram terrorists and pay them ransom, why can’t they negotiate with ASUU and pay them?” he asked.
Edward Moses, who has one son at Nasarawa State University Keffi and another at Federal University Lafia, is completely exhausted because of the ASUU strike.
He said: “It’s affecting my children. I’m not sure why the government isn’t doing anything. I’m worried and don’t know how to explain it for you to understand. From morning to night, both kids are constantly on their phones. They don’t do anything, and I’m hoping they’re not doing the Yahoo Yahoo thing that children do these days. I’m keeping an eye on them though, but I’m hoping it’s not what they’re doing.
“My son attends Nasarawa State University and studies Science, Lab and Technology. The impact of the ASUU strike has been beneficial to him. This is because he was so focused on his academics while in school that he didn’t have time to learn a skill or trade. However, he has used this time to learn a skill, which has enabled him to become much more productive and learn more. But for the prolonged strike, he would have completed his studies and focus on more productive things. As much as I appreciated the fact that he had learned a skill and improved himself, the ongoing strike is impeding their progress. As a result, we hope the government takes action,” said Sandra Amos.
“My daughter is a year one student and had just begun her studies at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, when the strike started. Seriously, it hasn’t been easy with her at home. The strike has a negative impact on her, seriously. She has been home doing nothing, unlike when she was going to school; at least school keeps her busy. Most of the time, she is sleeping and if she’s not sleeping, she’s out with friends. And these are friends we don’t trust so much. They may influence her negatively. And this alone has been a burden on us, her parents. We are worried. Please, we are pleading that the government should resolve the issue with ASUU so that the strike can be called off so that my child can go back to school. I’m very sure, like me, many parents are not finding it easy with them at home,” said Hannatu Danjuma.
Peter Ositadimma, whose eldest son has spent nine years studying medicine, regrets that each time he is about to write his final examination, ASUU goes on strike.
He said: “Having been a strong advocate of one and indivisible Nigeria, I’m now afraid of being a Nigerian. Before now, I had called the bluff of anyone who thinks otherwise but here my own four children are loitering aimlessly in a country that I have been defending her existence.
“Do I now have any reason to continue my unappreciated campaign? Even my children who are directly involved in this may not be happy with me.
“Sometimes, when I look at my child, I feel betrayed by a man whom I cast my vote for as an incoming President in 2015. It is all fallacy, to say the least.”
Abdulahi Usman is in support of a national protest by parents of university undergraduates in Nigeria. He stated that in as much as ASUU strike has become a source of concern to all Nigerian parents, that something drastic needs to be done to rescue the nation’s education.
“Yes, we have every reason to rescue this nation’s education from the haters of this country. I say haters because every patriotic Nigerian must prioritise education ahead of other sectors.”
Abdulahi said he has since devised means of keeping his children in some other activities to help build their lives in addition to education: “I decided to take this decision to avoid them being in a sorry situation in the future, especially now that even the white-collar job is not assured after school”.
Another parent and former vice-chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area in Benue State, Hon. Ogbu Adikwu, stated that the ASUU-Federal Government impasse has multifaceted effects on parents, emphasizing that they now face double jeopardy of financial and general economic problems and are no longer sure of how the school fees will be paid, aside from other mandatory expenses.
According to him, parents now hold their hearts in their hands each semester, because, as soon as they are through paying the fees, the ugly trend repeats itself.
“I have noticed that this happens often and it has become a menace. It happens whenever the students have made all payments after resumption. And another reason is that when a child is meant to spend four years in university, he ends up spending six and seven years in a Nigerian university. So when I said that it has become a menace, I am right. The government needs to declare a state of emergency in education because it holds the future for this country.
“I can still tell you for free that many of these students may not return to school when the strike is called off eventually. Some would probably be in jail for crimes committed, or killed because of involvement in some vices or lack of funds,” he said.
Ogbu also observed that some of these negative impacts also include the psychological effects on students who are offering courses that have to do with seniority in the field of practice, such as legal and medical practices. He said that students from private universities who started the same year with others at federal or state universities eventually will be seniors in practice, owing to the ASUU strike.
“So, I call them rulers, not leaders. Because they are not leading well with all the human and material resources God blessed Nigeria with. I remembered when we asked Ghananians to leave Nigeria but now we are the ones heading there for greener pastures,” he lamented.
Gwagwalada, Abuja university community, on the brinks
The socio-economic impact of nationwide strike by the university lecturers and other academic unions is beginning to hit hard on Gwagwalada, the town that hosts the University of Abuja (UniAbuja).
Students have been absent from the campus for five months at a stretch due to the strike by these university lecturers over unpaid welfare packages and other related issues.
From all the indications, students of UniAbuja have been the “bloodline” of the Gwagwalada town, as they constitutes larger percentage of residents who drive the social and economic activities of the town of Gwagwalada.
A regular visitor to Gwagwalada town could feel the impact of students’ absence right from the entrance of the town. Commerical motorbike operators, taxi drivers, food vendors, market women, cyber cafe operators, photographers, banks, hotels and guests-inns, POS operators and several others are feeling the impact of the prolonged ASUU strike.
A recent visit to both campuses, mini and main campuses, of the school both located in Gwagwalada, showed that the school was a ghost of itself, while the few people, non academic staff and in-house security officials, found in the school appealed to ASUU and Federal Government to resolve their differences so that campuses can reopen and be alive again.
The mini campus of UniAbuja is surrounded by cyber cafe operators who engage in services like photocopy, binding, typing and other related services, passport photographers, POS operators, food vendors and others are lamenting the impact of the absence of students.
One of the cyber cafe operators said: “These students are our major customers because they engage in different services, ranging from filling of forms online, course registration, research project work, photocopy and several related services. When there are new intakes, we become more busy. But they have been away for five months now on account of ASUU strike. It has been a terrible time for us.
“We pay heavily for shop rent, power supply and other related things with the hope of return on investment, but five months have gone and nothing to show. We are obviously running at loss already because we don’t know when the strike will end.”
He refused to disclose his income before and now, but confirmed that the entire Gwagwalada was feeling the heat of the students’ absence, adding: “If you go to the markets and malls, people are lamenting low patronage. These students make up a large percentage of residents that keep Gwagwalada busy.
“They contributed to making Gwagwalada what it is today. They buy clothes, food items, pharmaceutical products and several others, including betting centres. So, we are deeply feeling their absence, and can’t wait for their return as quickly as possible.”
Kassim, a photographer who runs a two minutes passport centre opposite the Law Faculty gate, said he has been having it rough financially since the closure of the school because his daily income dropped significantly.
“It has been five months of pain and misery for me and my family, even though it’s not a new experience for us doing business within the university campus. These students are our major customers, and once they are on holidays or strike, we feel it. Now, they have been off campus for five months. It’s not easy.
“However, I am surviving financially because of God’s help and, secondly, the step I took a few years ago after this kind of strike that lasted for over a year. I opened a branch outside the school environment and put somebody in charge there. That’s the only place I get some income periodically to keep body and soul together.”
On his part, a campus POS operator said the heat of the ASUU strike is directly on them, because they are not getting and making adequate transactions that would keep them and the business going. “It has negatively affected our standard of living especially now that the cost of living has tripled.
She appealed to the government and ASUU to have a meeting ground and resolve the contentious issues as quickly as possible so that students can return to school and continue with their programmes.
She added: “Some of the students have even called me to complain that the rents they paid are running and would soon expire. Some even said theirs have expired already, and are scared that the landlords might request that they renew the rents even when they are not using the rooms. But those are the baggage that come with the unending ASUU strike in Nigeria. Many of the students live off-campus and some said their rents have expired.”
A staff of Acehavana hotel located adjacent the school who pleaded for anonymity confirmed that the closure of the school has also had negative impact on their operations. “Our short time services, which is N2,500 for two hours, has also witnessed significant drop largely because of the school closure.
“Same is applicable in our bar and club. We are now using the opportunity to renovate our club, and also get a very good DJ that will be able to service the interest of the people that visit the club and students when they eventually return.”
Similarly, a staff of Green Pastures guest-inn said that, though they have patronage, it’s not as it used to be. “For instance, our beer bar is not as active as it used to be, and that is because students who keep it busy are not in school.”
At the Main campus of UniAbuja, activities are, expectedly, at low key. The campus and classrooms are deserted as expected. However, some non-academic activities were going on in the Senate building by a few non-academic staff in the school.
They are, apparently, helping to keep the environment alive. Similarly, a few ex-students who were asked to come for their original certificates were loitering around looking for who would attend to them.
Unfortunately, a neighbouring village, Iddo, where students go to engage in extra-curricular activities, was recently demolished by the officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
For Shadrack, who lives in Abuja but operates a cyber cafe in Nasarawa State University, Keffi, it’s been tough: “I was making a lot of money from my business. But ever since ASUU went on strike, it has badly affected my business. After the first week of the strike, I experienced a very low turnout of customers as a result of the students leaving the school premises. The following week there was no patronage. So, I decided to close down that week and decided to go into another business.”