Nation
ASUU strike: Varsities lose academic year, as hope of resolution vanishes
Adebayo Obajemu
With the resolve of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to press on with the ongoing strike, which began in February 14 this year, it is now inevitable that public universities in the country have lost a full academic year, and their students must now spend an extra year to graduate.
The situation has been further compounded by government action last week by taking the matter to the Industrial Court for resolution. Given past record, observers believe that government move rather than provide immediate solution to the protracted strike, will prolong it. In the past, such did not work.
As the impasse between the federal government and ASUU festers, the former out of frustration and belief that it could force ASUU’s hand through the instrumentality of legal action had last week
approached the National Industrial Court (NICN) sitting in Abuja, requesting an order for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resume while the dispute is being addressed.
According to a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, the matter was last Thursday, 8 September, referred to the Registrar of NICN by the Minister, Chris Ngige.
The new development was informed by the inability to arrive at amicable resolution of the matter, which has festered for seven-month. ASUU initially began the strike on an initial four weeks on 14 February, and has continued to extend it as talks with the government fail.
Because of perceived insincerity on the part of federal government, ASUU had on 29 August, announced an indefinite extension of the strike, accusing the government of insincerity. Unlike other unions in the university, ASUU has continually refused the government’s plea to resume while the government worked on its demands.
“Consequently, the Federal Government requested an order of the Court for ASUU members to resume work in their various universities while the issues in dispute are being addressed by the NICN in consonance with the provisions of Section 18 (I) (b) of the TDA Cap T8. LFN 2004,” the statement reads in part.
The statement added that the matter has been scheduled for mention on Monday, 12 September, but the court has adjourned hearing to September 19.
Govt demand
The Nigerian government is praying the court to inquire into the legality or otherwise of the strike even after apprehension by the Minister of Labour and Employment.
It further said; “It asked the court to interpret in its entirety the provisions of Section 18 LFN 2004, especially as it applies to the cessation of strike once a trade dispute is apprehended by the Minister of Labour and Employment and conciliation is ongoing.”
The statement gave other requests to include the interpretation of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, Cap T8. LFN 2004, dealing with the rights of employees/workers during the period of any strike or lock-out. The ministry also wants the court to determine whether ASUU members are entitled to emoluments for the period they have been on strike.
Government also wanted the court to; “Determine whether ASUU has the right to embark on strike over disputes as is the case in this instance by compelling the Federal Government to employ its own University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) in the payment of the wages of its members as against the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) universally used by the Federal Government in the nation for payment of wages of all her employees in the Federal Government Public Service of which university workers including ASUU members are part of or even where the government via NITDA subjected ASUU and their counterpart, Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll Systems (UPPPS) software to integrity test (vulnerability and stress test) and they failed.
“The Federal Government further asked the court to determine the extent of fulfillment of ASUU’s demands since the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) that the union signed with the government. The demands include the funding for revitalisation of public universities as per 2009 agreement, Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) payments, state universities proliferation and constitution of visitation panels and release of white paper on the report of the visitation panels.
“The others are the reconstitution of the government renegotiation team for renegotiation of 2009 agreement, which was renegotiated in 2013/2014, due for renegotiation 2018/2019 and the migration of ASUU members from IPPIS to its own UTAS, which is currently on test at NITDA.”
As it stands now, the federal government’s Court action
appeared to be the last resort to be used by the Buhari-led administration in a further attempt to put paid to one of the longest strike actions embarked upon by Nigeria’s university lecturers.
The court action has drawn the vicarious interest of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and five university students. SERAP and five university students last week sued President Muhammadu Buhari before the National Industrial Court seeking an order to force the federal government to honour the agreement it reached with ASUU.
SERAP and the students prayed the court to order the government to implement forthwith the terms of the Renegotiated 2009 Agreement and the 2020 Memorandum of Action in order to put an end to the strike action and desist from further violation of the rights of the Nigerian students to quality education.
ASUU has repeatedly insisted on the renegotiation of 2009 agreement, implementation of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), earned allowances, among other demands that bordered on refurbishment of Nigerian universities.
In a letter addressed to the chief registrar of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, dated 8th September, 2022, minister of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, obliged the court to give the issue an accelerated hearing in order to bring the dispute to an end.
Meanwhile, the President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has given an indication of the union’s willingness to end its seven-month old strike. He hinted that this could only be achieved if concrete agreements were reached with the Federal Government.
Osodeke gave the indication in Abuja last Thursday at a National Town Hall Meeting on Tertiary Education tagged: ‘ The Locked Gates of our Citadels -A National Emergency.’
“On all these issues, we have given the government a minimum that we can accept, but they have not responded on issue of revitilisation, on issue of earned allowances and on issues that we have all discussed”, Osodeke stated.
”We negotiated and agreed that they should sign and this is very simple, not more than one day.
”On UTAS and IPPIS, we say release the report of the test you did and let’s look at the one that came first and take it as we agreed.
Last week, members of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NAN, blocked the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway before they were prevailed upon by well meaning Nigerians, even though, Babatunde Fashola, minister for works dubbed the action illegal, that did not prevent the students from blocking the Ilesa-Ibadan road in protest over the prolonged strike blaming the federal government for not acceding to the demands of ASUU.
Commenting on the matter, Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist said “the long-standing crisis between ASUU and the federal government would have been resolved but for the arrogance and lackadaisical attitude of Ngige and the President’s disregard for education.”
He warned that as long as Ngige is in charge of the negotiations the crisis will continue.
Dr. Olufemi Omoyele, director of Entrepreneurship at Redeemers University told Business Hallmark that “the demands of ASUU is legitimate, it is to save the country’s tertiary education from collapse but because our elites in power do not have a dog in the fight they are unconcerned. Their children are schooling overseas”.
ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter, Professor Ayo Akinwole, said that Nigerians should not see the strike as an ASUU thing but as a fight all Nigerians must own to have a future of quality education for their children.
