For the umpteenth time, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities is on strike. ASUU is the union that has gone on strike the most over the last 20 years. And what are they on strike for this time? From what I gather, they intend to draw the governments’ attention to the decaying infrastructure in our universities, get a pay rise amongst other things.
There is no doubt that our educational system has decayed beyond belief. There is no doubt that the quality of our graduates are very poor, except for the rare few who still manage to excel (by Nigerian standards anyway). There is no doubt that the government should have done so much more for the sector. But the truth of the matter is that the education sector is not the only one that has suffered massive government neglect. Look at our roads and bridges; look at our electricity infrastructure, our police force and our health care. The whole country has been neglected and has had its infrastructure shredded to bits, so why do we continue to have ASUU in the news the way no other Union is.
It seems that ASUU has an over inflated opinion of its power. This bloated perception of itself seems to stem from the successes of ASUU in the Babangida era, where ASUU in conjunction with NUPENG and PENGASSAN and other unions successfully brought this country to a halt (the success of that era is also the reason NUPENG and PENGASSAN also strike at the slightest whim). However, in my opinion ASUU is not really that powerful. All the strikes that the union has embarked upon over the last decade or so have had little impact on the government. The governments’ receipts and revenues are generally guaranteed whatever ASUU does. In fact, ASUU’s continued strike actions have their greatest effects on the students, the very same ones ASUU is supposed to be fighting for, as well as the Nigerian Nation as an entity. Over the years, in all of the various altercations between ASUU and the government, ASUU has usually been painted as the hero and the government as the villain. This may well be, but rather than focus on the government, let me focus on ASUU for a change.
It is a well said proverb that it is only a fool that does the same thing the exact same way every time and expects a different result. ASUU has been striking consistently for over 20years now. Has anything changed significantly over the years? If not, why on earth would it suddenly change now? Has ASUU ever turned its spotlight on itself and challenged the Vice Chancellors of the various universities? The sector may be poorly funded, but we all know that like everywhere in this country, there is rather large scale corruption and nepotism in the ivory towers. There is room for much better management of available resources. We are also all too aware of the scourge of handouts and the harassment of female students in our universities. Many of the practices are being carried out by lecturers who are ASUU members. How many times have we heard ASUU challenge any of these practices successfully? If ASUU is not happy about the educational policies of the government, why does it not sponsor a bill at the National Assembly to right any wrongs that may be in our current laws? There are many other ways that ASUU can engage its energies to better the educational system, rather than its continued blind sighted approach to strike actions at every opportunity. Strikes may be necessary some of the time, but they certainly can’t be as necessary as the uncountable times the union has used the strategy.
If ASUU is to achieve its objective of making our educational system better, if indeed that is the true objective, then it must begin to think out of the box and perhaps seek to influence the formulation of acceptable policy, rather than seek to demolish already formulated but unacceptable policy. The Professors and Doctors who make up ASUU are meant to be highly intelligent, but they certainly don’t always act like it!
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