By Obi Iwuagwu
Millions of youths especially in Nigeria’s public Universities (both federal and state owned) early this year, precisely on 14 February, received a rare Valentine’s gift from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who following their lingering disagreement with the federal government over the renegotiation of their 2009 Agreement, declared a two-week warning strike, leading to the closure of the Universities. Unfortunately, what started as a two-week warning strike has since been rolled over twice, thus ensuring that these public universities remained closed. Pleas from the students and several other stakeholders, for the harmonious resolution of the problem has not yet materialized as the government’s manifest unwillingness to negotiate with the striking lecturers has only worsened the matter.
For the average Nigerian, strikes may have become an aspect of the nation’s economy and indeed national life considering that there is hardly anytime one industrial union or the other is not on strike to the point that many now wonder whether the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment actually does any other thing, apart from engaging in the resolution of strikes. However, what is worrisome is the economic cost of these strikes on its stakeholders. I argue here that it is because we never take such costs into consideration that the attitude of the country’s leadership towards either nipping these strikes in the bud or even quickly resolving them is always lackadaisical. I will use the present strike by the different unions in the country’s public universities to demonstrate what each of the major stakeholders actually losses and why government must do everything humanly possible to quickly resolve the problem and henceforth never allow anything similar to occur. In this case, the primary stakeholders are the students, lecturers, proprietors of campus businesses, and the country in general. The ultimate losers are the students. To start with, several of them lose their lives in avoidable circumstances and in particular through accidents during these strikes. Funnily, quite a number of the female students either get married or pregnant and end up withdrawing from school during these strikes. Some would-be students are also not able to take up their admissions either due to loss of interest or inability to meet the stipulated deadlines.
Moreover, given that majority of the Universities are non-residential, many of the students are forced to forfeit monies paid to their landlords for accommodation prior to the strikes. Majority of them are also made to spend additional years in school than is necessary, as a result of which they may no longer be found worthy for employment (due to the 26 years’ age limit, which several employers prefer) or even to join the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to the 30 years’ age limit. But that is not all. Prospective final year students are made to forfeit the opportunity of joining their batch in the compulsory one-year national service (NYSC), while graduates from the different law faculties are equally not able to join their set for the mandatory training at the Nigeria Law School. Similarly, Medical Students are denied the opportunity to join their colleagues for the mandatory one-year practical training as House Officers. Although this may sound funny, but truth of the matter is that several of the students find themselves doing all sorts of odd jobs during these strikes to survive. Of course, it is self-evident that most of the students pay their way through school. For such students, these periods of strike only worsen their plight. Even those of them on official study leave also lose, given that they end up staying more than their officially approved periods due to these strikes and are therefore forced to loose such study leaves. Perhaps, worse of all is the fact that several of these students resort to crime including cultism, ritual killing, 419 and ‘yahoo-yahoo’ during these strikes. These, they end up bringing into the University, when the strike eventually ends. Yet another group that is severely hit by the incessant strikes are the Lecturers. Of course, many of them abandon their jobs and relocate abroad for greener pastures, resulting in brain drain. Have you wondered why we no longer have foreign Lecturers in our Universities as it used to be in the 1980s and 1990s? The greatest beneficiaries from this mess, are the Universities in the neighbouring countries. Because Nigeria’s Universities are unstable, hardly operate any defined academic calendar, and do not pay well, Lecturers from outside our climes are usually not attracted to work in our Universities even as most of them prefer to go to the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, many Lecturers are forced to forfeit their annual vacation due to these strikes given that the ongoing session had not been concluded, and this negatively impacts on their state of health. Moreover, families of some of these lecturers are forced to go through severe hardship considering that the salaries of their benefactors have been withheld due to the strike. There is also the inability of these Lecturers to afford proper medical attention either for himself/herself or for the immediate family given that their salaries have been withheld. This, in some cases, also results in the demise of these Lecturers. Even more worrisome is the fact that some of them are forced to engage in very demeaning jobs during these strikes in a bid to survive, while several others accumulate debts that they hope to settle at the end of the strike, when their salary is restored.
Periods of strike in our public Universities are also not the best of times for proprietors of the several businesses on campus. Majority of these businesses are forced to close down owing to lack of patronage. These include operators of small shops, campus car and bus shuttle etc. Their plight is better imagined, considering the level of loss and damages they incur especially in a place like Nigeria where many have to borrow, with exorbitant rates of interest to set up such businesses. To think that most of these people also have families that depend on them is to add salt to injury.
By far the greatest loser during these strikes is Nigeria. Of course, it negatively affects the rating of the country’s Universities. Are you still surprised why no Nigerian University is among the first one thousand in the world? Largely, because of the mess caused by these strikes, Nigeria’s public Universities are unable to attract foreign students, which in recent times have become a veritable source of University funding. Come to think of it, if you were a foreigner, would you send your child to any Nigerian University to study? Unfortunately, poor quality Universities in neighbouring countries have become the greatest beneficiaries as several Nigerian students migrate to these countries to study. Go and enquire from the Central Bank of Nigeria how much it spends in forex annually on behalf of Nigerian students studying abroad. The country also losses in other ways. For instance, it is impossible for anybody to presently collect either a certificate or transcript from any of the public Universities due to the ongoing strike. Considering that the world has now become a global village, imagine the number of employers of labour and foreign Universities that would be unable to confirm the certificates presented to them by Nigerians. What it means is that for as long as such periods of strike lasts no Nigerian would be able to either apply for admission abroad, not even for an immigrant visa in another country given that these documents would be required.
Because of the nature of these strikes and the damage they usually do to the University Calendar, each University at the end of such strikes comes out with imaginative ways to correct its Calendar and this includes shortening the periods of learning. Need I say that in the long run, this results in low standards? Above all, there is usually an increase in the crime rate during such periods as most of the youths find ready employment in crime. Will you blame them? After all, an idle mind, they say is the devils workshop. The task before us therefore is to ensure that we minimize the rate of strikes among our labour unions if only to reduce its economic costs. The challenge rests squarely on the government given that for now it is the greatest employer of labour in our economy.
Iwuagwu writes from Lagos via [email protected]