ASUU STRIKE HISTORY Quite a lot of people have responded to the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. There are three broad categories of people: Those who are in support of the union; those who are opposed to the strike and even strikes in general and those who are playing the Ostrich game. This piece is meant for all the three categories of people. It is true that strikes by their nature are disruptive and that the university lecturers’ strikes have been too frequent. The immediate question is: Why does ASUU always embark on strike? In answering this question, it will be important to look at the whole gamut of ASUU/FGN relationship over the years since the coming into being of ASUU. ASUU grew out of the Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT) which was formed in 1965. Those who formed ASUU in 1978 felt that NAUT was more like a “middle class fraternity” which did not have the much- needed vigour and orientation suitable for the development of Nigeria’s university system in particular and education in general. Nigeria’s post-colonial state had been hijacked by the military and allied forces who mismanaged the oil boom of the period. The freedoms of the people had been eroded; education at all levels was not getting the required attention; the oil boom, instead of catalyzing the development of the country became ironically a source of underdevelopment and real curse to the nation. It was in the midst of these contradictions and disenabling environment that ASUU emerged as an intellectual force to challenge the powers-that-be and offer a credible alternatives for our country. Universities by their nature are democratic institutions, hence they are opposed to any manner of imposition either from within or without. The 1978 Uthman Mohammed Commission Report which took away the disciplinary functions of the Governing Councils of Universities provided a litmus test for ASUU. This was because the government of the period in question used the report as a basis to direct some University Governing Councils to dismiss certain members of staff from their posts without giving them a fair hearing. In 1980, ASUU declared a Trade Dispute with the Shagari government, making the issue of autonomy an important matter. ASUU also fought Shagari’s government following Justice Balonwu’s Visitation Panel Report which had directed the Council of the University of Lagos to remove six senior members of the academic staff from their jobs. Given the nature of its mandate, ASUU fought the Federal Government under Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1980 and 1981 on issues bordering on funding, salaries, autonomy and academic freedom, brain-drain, the survival of the university system in particular and the direction of the country in general. Throughout the military era, ASUU waged a lot of struggles revolving around conditions of service; funding; university autonomy/academic freedom; the defence of the right to education; broad national issues such as the anti-military struggles; actions against privatisation, SAP and other neo-liberal policies of the government including the World Bank’s attempts to take over the Nigerian University system through its $120million loan under the regime of Babangida. It should be recalled that ASUU had battled the Buhari/Idiagbon regime’s policy of retrenchment of workers and freezing of wages; gave support to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) when they went on their patriotic strike to rescue the deteriorating health services in Nigeria in 1984. ASUU, through strikes, also supported the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to protest the brutal murder of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) students by Mobile Policemen in 1986. Again, in 1987 and 1988 the union was in the trenches. The union fought the illegal dismissal of its president, Dr. Festus Iyayi, and others in 1987. It participated fully in the 1988 general strikes occasioned by the effects of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which the Babangida government had imposed on the country. The earlier Elongated University Salary Scale (EUSS) which the government was to implement was abandoned. ASUU was banned but the academics organised themselves under the platform of Universities Lecturers Association (ULA) and it was on this platform that the anti-World Bank Conference to resist the Babangida regime’s attempt to obtain the $120 million loan from the World Bank was held at OAU, Ile-Ife, in 1990.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 07:15:13 +0000