Thoughts on ASUU strike

After the return to democracy in 1999, the union continued to be unrelenting in demanding the rights of university workers against opposition by the government of the former president Olusegun Obasango. In 2007, the ASUU went on strike for three months, in May 2008; they held a two week warning strike to press a range […]

After the return to democracy in 1999, the union continued to be unrelenting in demanding the rights of university workers against opposition by the government of the former president Olusegun Obasango. In 2007, the ASUU went on strike for three months, in May 2008; they held a two week warning strike to press a range of demands, including an improved salary scheme and reinstatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed many years ago. In 2007, the ASUU ordered its members in Federal and state universities nationwide to proceed on an indefinite strike over disagreements with the federal government on an agreement it reached with the union about two and a half years ago. After three months of strikes, in October 2009 the ASUU and other staff union signed a memorandum of understanding with the government and called off the industrial action.
In the recent strike actions embarked on by the academic staff union of universities (ASUU), all for the revitalisation of the Nigerian education system since the military regime to the present democratic dispensation has led to the achievement of noting but a disruption of the Universities school calendar.
The recent strike action embarked upon by the union will definitely disrupt academic activities in many universities in the country as it will shatter academic calendars, prolong the stay of students in school, especially students of the university of Maiduguri who are far behind owing to the forced closure of the institution due to the alarming spate of insurgency within that period. Among students of institutions of higher learning, ASUU is now notorious for prolonging period of study.
One would wonder why ASUU still embark on such strikes when all efforts still proves unproductive each regime gone by.
It is in analysis of this unproductive strike actions that one is forced to define the true activities of a pressure group as an organised or unorganised body of people that seeks to promote its particular interests within a society by exerting pressure on public officials and agencies as selfish as it reflects the interest of only a part of the population, it is often argued that such organisations are contrary to the interest of the general public.
It will surely be of the nation’s best interest to suggest better ways of tackling issues from pressure groups rather than these unproductive and forsaken strike actions that only makes the Nigerian education system a hopeless course.
To this end, it is important to suggest to ASUU to look for other means of achieving their aims other than embarking on strike actions; carrying out peaceful demonstration or assembling at strategic location or better still using the media as a tool can help in promoting their interest.
More so, ASUU can lobby powerful individuals and those close to government to also achieve their aims and objectives.
On a second thought, parents can help in avoiding these incessant strikes by mobilising, lobbying on their own part. This will go a long way in instilling a sense of commitment on the part of the federal government as to the need to give ASUU the much desired “listening ears”.
Kerem Kurugh, University of Maiduguri