On July 1, 2013, when Nigerian Federal and state universities’ lecturers embarked on an indefinite strike, many had thought that it was one of those industrial actions that would be called off within few days or weeks, the worst case, but here we are today. It’s still unclear how far the nation will go in this absence of illumination in the nation’s educational sector, and it’s most unclear whether the end of the journey is anything to speculate. Today, the aggrieved lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, have indeed made real the threat that unless their demands were met, they would abide by the “indefinite” tag of the strike. As the nation has witnessed, the ongoing sit-at- home order, is unequivocally an indefinite one. Now that the strike has clocked 100th day since its commencement, DailyPost deems it necessary to look at the genesis, the drawbacks, progress, and the continuous disagreement experienced so far in the unending dialogue which has ultimately refused to be the answer. The issue The Union has over the years complained of neglect of the university system. It regularly cites dearth of infrastructure, little or no funding for research, unconducive learning environment, overbearing influence of federal and state governments in university management, inadequate facilities and learning materials, underpayment of lecturers, among other myriad of problems as challenges facing the higher institutions. Then in 2009, under the Umaru Musa Yar’adua administration, the union and the government of the day reached an agreement,which both parties agreed would He stated that on the contrary, the union’s major concern is to save the universities from dying. “ASUU will continue to call on Nigerians to help beg the Federal Government to be patriotic and see reason in not allowing public tertiary education to die. “The FG should honour the agreement it entered and stop playing the sentiment game, he advised. On Monday, ASUU National Strike Coordinating Committee, also dismissed the October 1 broadcast of the President in which he referred to the strike as politically motivated. A statement by the committee read, “The primary goal of our union is to work for the repositioning of the Nigerian university system for global competition in terms of comparable facilities and staff quality. This goal we have pursued with diligence as a trade union. “The Umaru Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan government did not accuse ASUU of playing politics all through the three years (2006-2009) negotiations that produced the 2009 agreement. “As Vice-President, Jonathan made significant input into the negotiation process. In 2012, when the MoU was signed despite doubts about government’s sincerity, President Jonathan did not impute political motives. Even the landmark report of the Committee on the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities was not interpreted as political. “Why is it now when ASUU insists that the Federal Government should deliver on what it undertook to do under the 2009 agreement, the 2012 MoU and the 2012 Needs Assessment Report that the union is being accused of embarking on a political strike? “ASUU members, and, indeed, progressive Nigerians, know too well that the accusation of politicization of strike is a cheap blackmail. If anything, it is the Federal Government that is trying to whip up political sentiments over matters that are straightforward and clear to all and sundry.” More threats; Even as the government and well meaning individuals continue to appeal to ASUU on the need to shift ground and call off its prolonged strike, different Association bodies have equally issued some threats of embarking on a similar action either to push for their own demands or in solidarity with ASUU. NUPENG in its concern for the plights of Nigerian students has warned that if the government fails to implement to the fullest the demands of the striking and aggrieved lecturers, it will shutdown the nation oil distribution. Relatively, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic has o
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:58:50 +0000
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