The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently suspended its eight-month-old strike, which it embarked upon on February 14, 2022. ASUU explained that it called off the strike following the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other well-meaning Nigerians as well as an order of the Court of Appeal asking its members to return to work.
The Court of Appeal had upheld the order of the lower court and ordered ASUU to comply with the ruling of the lower court as condition precedent for the appeal to be heard. In obedience to the directive, ASUU suspended the strike. With the suspension of the industrial action, it is expected that academic activities will resume fully in public universities soon. However, there are fundamental issues that need to be fully addressed to avert another industrial action in the public universities.
According to ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the issues that led to the eight-month industrial action are yet to be satisfactorily addressed. These are funding for revitalisation of public universities; payment of earned academic allowances; proliferation of public universities; Visitation Panels/Release of White Papers and University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), the alternative payment platform developed by university teachers. The union has argued that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS), which the government uses to pay all civil servants’ salaries, and intends to extend to the tertiary education system, is fraudulent and does not recognise the peculiarities of the universities. ASUU is also asking for renegotiation of the 2009 agreement it entered with the government.
Earlier, the government has made some promises to address the demands of the university teachers. Therefore, we urge them to amicably resolve all the outstanding issues through alternative dispute resolution process. Since funding is at the heart of the industrial dispute, ASUU and the government should seize the window of opportunity provided by the Appeal Court order to ensure that the face-off does not linger.
The issue between the government and ASUU cannot be settled through the courts. All the stakeholders should dialogue and ensure that the academic calendar is no longer disrupted. Let the varsities be properly funded. The varsity teachers must come up with non-disruptive ways of settling any industrial dispute. No doubt, strike has adversely affected the academic programmes of students in the nation’s public universities. It is also not good for lecturers and other workers in the university system. Between the 2020 strike and the immediate past industrial action, two academic sessions have almost been lost. Many students had also abandoned their academic programmes. Constant disruption in the academic calendar has affected the quality of teaching and learning. Strike should no longer be contemplated in view of its deleterious effect on varsity education.
Good enough, the government has earmarked about N300 billion in next year’s budget for the revitalisation of the universities. Nigerians should put pressure on government to release the money to the universities within the first quarter of the year. The fund should be released early enough to create the desired impacts. If each university gets N2billion or N3billion, it will go a long way in improving the situation on the campuses.
On its part, the Federal Government should show good faith on the issues raised by ASUU, especially in prioritising varsity education. Any country that relegates education is only toying with its future. Government should not see the Appeal Court order on ASUU as an opportunity to finally resolve the matter in a win-win situation. Government should also think of alternative funding models for public universities, including granting them full autonomy so that they can charge appropriate fees for their services.
We commend the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other well-meaning Nigerians for their intervention in bringing a closure to the ugly chapter in the nation’s tertiary education sector. Above all, let the government expedite action in paying the lecturers the salaries owed them in the past eight months. Let lecturers return to class forthwith. That will be the first step in resolving the matter.