The Truth About The Current State Of The ASUU Strike

Following the protracted strike action by ASUU to enforce the funding agreement of 2009 with the Yar'Ardua/ Jonathan Administration there have been attempts to shift the focus of the public from the real issues and portray ASUU as an insensitive organization. We have tried to explain how we tried desperately to avoid the strike by virtually begging for meetings with the Federal Government for over three years to no avail.
As a last option to draw attention to our plight and get the government to talk, ASUU has had to devise an instrument of warning strike to force a dialogue and hopefully avoid the need for a strike. We believe that Nigerians remember that a warning strike was applied without the desired attention from government. Over and over again, we have been advised to adopt alternative methods to strike actions. ASUU has a permanent lobby in Abuja and regularly seeks
the help of traditional rulers and influential individuals to persuade government to talk to her. Nigerians should not forget that governance in Nigeria is a big racket and leadership has one focus; unbridled appetite for power and money. Those who talk about the need for dialogue to resolve labour issues need to understand how the Nigerian Government and political environment functions. ASUU does not have the financial means to induce support of officials and mobilize the political apparatus. Even if we had the means, it is against our policy to give or accept bribe.
Those who accuse ASUU of being insensitive need to realize that it is easier for ASUU to concentrate on its conditions of service alone (as some have repeatedly suggested) and leave the government to do what it likes with the Universities. We have ready examples of national assets such as NITEL, RAILWAY, and NIGERIAN AIRWAYS among many others that collapsed because the workers paid attention only to their narrow interests. Members of ASUU often go without salaries for months during strikes and are subjected to untold hardships and indignities. Wouldn’t it just be easier to take our salaries and leave Nigerians to decide the fate of their institutions? Is this what Nigerians want? Do they want to finish off the Universities as was done to public primary and secondary schools? Will there be opportunities for the poor to have university education if we fold our hands and allow the public universities to be destroyed?  Will the poor be able to send their children abroad or pay the exorbitant fees of private universities owned by politicians and their friends?
IS ASUU DISRESPECTFUL TO THE PRESIDENT?
There have been insinuations that ASUU has come up with new demands following the meeting with Mr President. In spite of the fact that we believe that Mr President could have thrown his weight behind a resolution of the crisis very early in the strike and in fact, he could have prevented the strike from happening, ASUU was very appreciative of his intervention. It is important to note that while the political machinery of government was more interested in the resolution of the current strike, ASUU, in addition, was more concerned about ending strikes for the foreseeable future in order to bring the university system to stability. Perhaps, government did not see the need to find a sustainable solution to the problem. Following the discussions with Mr President, a number of decisions were taken. Out of respect for Mr President, ASUU did not insist that the minutes of the meeting and decision extracts be produced, vetted and signed before leaving the venue of the meeting. ASUU’s experience in its dealing with government has been that Civil Servants routinely doctor minutes of meeting for political and selfish ends. We are also quite familiar with the fact that successive governments starting with the Abacha era have consistently disowned agreements with ASUU at the slightest opportunity. Nigerians are familiar with the burden of history and the “integrity challenge” which those in the highest offices in the land bear. The spoken promise of a President should normally be cast in stone.  However, is that our experience in Nigeria?  If agreements are not important then what is? If leaders violate agreements entered into with the cream of its intelligentsia, then the mass populace is doomed. We should not turn against the man whose rights have been violated because we think it is the fastest way to peace.
-Story by Dr. Segun Ajiboye