•Final-year students, others express concern, as industrial action paralyses campuses
By Gabriel Dike
Last week, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on an indefinite strike over the alleged non-implementation of the 2009 agreement the union signed with the federal government. And since then, as always, students have been at the receiving end.
On Monday, August 14, 2017, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU directed its members nationwide to proceed on an indefinite strike. And by the following day, academic and research activities were grounded in both federal and state universities. Across the country, students watched helplessly as their lecturers abandoned the classroom.
The strike is just about a week old, but already, students, especially those in their final session, parents and those seeking admission have started to count their losses.
They are hoping that the industrial action by the university lecturers would be suspended soon, so that they could complete or start their programmes, as the case might be.
Currently, the universities are like ghost towns, as students have deserted the campuses while the few still around are hoping for a miracle. ASUU is insisting on the industrial action, even as the federal government is appealing for time to enable it address some of the issues in contention.
But as the strike continues, stakeholders are worried over the fate of university students.
Reasons for the strike
ASUU national president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the union was on strike because the federal government failed to meet the demands of ASUU. Some of the government’s alleged ‘sins’ include a breach of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement, non-implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on financial grants to state universities, review of conditions of service, non-implementation of earned academic allowance (EAA) and re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement.
Other outstanding issues are absence of revitalisation funds to public universities, withholding of the NUPEMCO operational licence, payment of half salaries to members and the unresolved issue of an outstanding N880 billion in intervention fund being owed the universities by the federal government.
Disruption of current academic calendar
When the news of the strike hit many campuses, several students knew the implications, and, if the strike continues, it would affect the academic calendar, which they were hoping would end between September and November. In fact, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), in a statement signed by the national coordinator, Hassan Taiwo, and national secretary, Ibukun Omole, admitted that the strike would disrupt the academic calendar of several universities and affect the time that students should graduate.
Final-year students
Final-year students might be the worst victims of the current impasse. Before the strike, many of them were looking forward to graduating this year, but the ongoing strike might shatter such dreams.
Lateef Morufu, a 24-year-old final-year student of Lagos State University (LASU), told Daily Sun that he was already looking forward to his graduation, regretting that the dream was about to be scuttled by the strike. Several others, who expressed their frustration, also prayed that the issues would be resolved by both parties as soon as possible.
Project supervision suffers setback
Final-year and postgraduate students, who are either writing or preparing to defend their projects, are in a dilemma. With the ongoing strike, they will have to wait until the industrial action is over, as they will not be attended to by the striking lecturers. Makinde Lawal, a student of the University of Lagos, said he had an appointment with his supervisor on the issue, but regretted that the strike had put the meeting on hold.
2017/2018 admission exercise
Many applicants and even their parents were looking forward to the admission exercise to commence anytime soon but the strike may have put that on hold. No ASUU member is expected to participate in academic activities, including meetings at departmental and faculty levels. Lecturers determine the departmental cut-off marks and are usually the admission officers of their departments.
Two parents, Mr. Kunle Adeyemi and Deacon Flora Nwachkwu, whose wards applied to the University of Lagos, expressed concern over the industrial action and hoped the federal government would address the issues to enable the lecturers resume work.
Senate meetings
A major fallout of the ASUU strike is that all senate meetings of the various universities have been crippled. The NEC forbids any member on strike to attend such gatherings. Many vice chancellors who called such meetings in the past discovered the futility of their action, as ASUU members boycotted them. Unless the strike is called off before then, the scheduled August 28, 2017, senate meeting of Lagos State University (LASU) to elect the second deputy VC will not hold while others meant to ratify results in different universities will also not hold. There are many students with outstanding results waiting for the approval of the senate. Such students would have to wait until the strike is over.
Research work and conferences
Academic staff members are barred from engaging in research or attending conferences during the strike. A case in point was the stoppage of UNILAG’s 12th Annual Research Conference and Fair by the ASUU monitoring team on Tuesday, August 15, 2017. The chairman of ASUU-UNILAG, Dr. Adelaja Odukoya, told the participants that they should go home because the event would not continue and, as academic staff, they should comply with the ASUU NEC directive.
His words: “We are here today because we are academics, scholars and researchers and also for the sake of the education of the youths and the development of the country. We are seated here saying we are attending a research conference. Do we have the equipment and facilities in the universities to carry out research?
“Our national union has declared total and indefinite strike from 12 noon today and you people are gathering here for research conference, it is wrong. By the powers vested in me by the congress, this is the end of the research conference. We will be back tomorrow to monitor the situation.”
ERC’s position
The ERC, in a statement made available to Daily Sun, backed the strike and called on the federal government to immediately meet the demands of ASUU in order to avoid a situation where students would be wasting their time at home for months.
The group also called on ASUU not to make the strike a sit-at-home action, advising the union to organise activities like public rallies, mass meetings and demonstrations in and outside of campuses to ensure that the issues are clearly explained to members of the public.
“To avoid the horrible scenario whereby the strike drags on endlessly, students, parents and members of the public need to rally round ASUU to collectively call on government to fulfil its responsibility towards public education. This is no time for students and parents to take a position of neutrality in the ongoing conflict between ASUU and government. What is at stake is the fate of public education and the future of the country. For that reason, this struggle is also the struggle of all students, parents and working people in general,” ERC stated.
The proprietor of Royal Academy, Ibadan, Oyo State, Chief Laide Oluwaseun, appealed to the federal authorities to invite the leadership of ASUU to a meeting to resolve the issues in the interest of students and parents, who will bear the brunt of the strike.
Oluwaseun said that ASUU gave the federal government enough opportunities to address the demands but regretted that government failed to take advantage of the opportunities. He said he was worried that the strike would disrupt the academic calendar of many universities, stall the admission exercise and affect final-year students.
Less than one week after the industrial action commenced, most students have vacated the campuses. A few others remain, however, hoping that ASUU and the government would resolve the impasse quickly.