By Gabriella Ogbu
In an effort to dispel a misunderstanding about their views on strikes, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria have emphasized that they do not enjoy going on strike.
The ASUU chairman of Kwara State University (KWASU), Abdulganiyu Sheu Salau, told reporters on the university’s Malete campus on Wednesday that the union is tired of the purported hypocrisy of the federal government.
The union stated that, in 2009, crucial concerns pertaining to funding, university autonomy, and conditions of employment were resolved through agreement between ASUU and the federal government; nevertheless, the agreement was not carried out.
Parents who have children attending different universities in Nigeria are members of ASUU. Why would we desire a scenario in which our kids are returned home? But in spite of our repeated efforts to communicate with the government, we are forced to go on strike because we have received no response. We’ve tried every avenue—formal and informal—and nothing has worked. Our final resort is to take strike action, which is allowed by university policy. He clarified, “Some of our members are fleeing the country for locations like South Africa and England, and some of them are owed salaries.
“I want to state that many of the infrastructures we see in universities today, including those here at KWASU, have been secured in large part thanks to the fights and strikes by our union. Nigerian universities would have suffered in the absence of our efforts. We are hardworking citizens, not strike fans. For this reason, we are bringing attention to our predicament among the general public, students, market women, stakeholders, etc. Although we don’t want strikes, we also can’t teach when we’re hungry. Professors, our more experienced colleagues, make as little as $300 per year. How are we going to live on that?” He posed a rhetorical question.
The union also denounced the federal government for not implementing ASUU’s recommended 26% of the national budget for education, which is UNESCO’s standard for developing nations like Nigeria.
Salau bemoaned the successive Nigerian governments’ habitually low budgetary allotment to education, which has averaged between 5% and 8% of the overall budget over the last ten years.
The funding for the revitalization of public universities, as described in the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2012, 2013, and the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2017, was one of the problems he brought up as a continuing concern.
Salau continued, “Instead of making improvements, the federal government has decided to cut back on funding for the education sector, diverting funds to initiatives that do not directly benefit Nigerian public universities.”
The ASUU chairman also underlined the necessity for the Kwara State government to improve lecturer welfare and infrastructure, and he asked the administration to respond to their requests.
Other disputed matters include of:
i. Illegal dissolution of Federal and State Universities: Despite the fact that no misconduct has been detected and the councils’ terms have not yet ended, ASUU has protested the illegal dissolution of Governing Councils of public universities.
ii. Release of Withheld Salaries: Despite making up for lost class time, ASUU members at federal universities have not yet received the three and a half months’ wages that were withheld during a prior strike. ASUU denounces the authorities’ seeming disregard for the wellbeing of its members and issues a warning about possible legal action to force a resolution.
iii. Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) and Arrears Payment: According to the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, EAA must be paid for by the government. The incorporation of EAA into members’ monthly salary was reiterated in the FGN/ASUU MoA from December 2020. The next tranche of allowances is anticipated in 2021.
