ASUU Strike/NLC Solidarity Protest: Necessity of addressing disgruntled courses in Public Universities

Planned protest by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) slated for Tuesday 26th, and Wednesday 27th, July, 2022 to frown against the unresolved differences between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on the face of discourse as solidarity course for elaborate mobilisation keep taking rounds of coverage. It was reported the NLC leadership will Monday (today) meet with leaders of ASUU and other aggrieved unions to finalise mobilisation plans for solidarity towards the scheduled date.

When the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared a warning strike on the 14th February, 2022, Nigerian NewsDirect had warned of the possibilities of the strike taking a lingering toll of similar dimension of the 2020 narratives of a protracted strike which lasted for nine months. Over five months after the warning strike, the protest has grown into an indefinite one which has reflected a state of stalemate.

Nigerian NewsDirect had in a March 8th, 2022, editorial projected the initial warning strike relapsing into a lingering shutdown of the Universities. “The fear that the subjects of contest informing the strike may clog-up to record a similar experience in 2020, which saw an industrial action lasting for nine months, March – December, is a possibility brewing trouble in the academic climate,” the editorial had read partly.

As projected, the strike had lingered too far beyond what many, particularly the students, would expect.  Demonstrations to protest the prolonged face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU have begun to attract momentous reactions against the prevailing impasse between aggrieved university unions and the Federal Government. That critical sectors of the Nigerian economy would suffer as workers and professionals across sectors have begun to throw their weight of solidarity support for elaborate mobilisation for a protest set to hold by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) slated for Tuesday 26th, and Wednesday 27th, July 2022, is not indisputable. Professionals including bankers, engineers, pilots, and aviation professionals, among others, under different aegises have begun to declare outcries and resolve to demonstrate against the impasse of the lingering strike.

On Monday, 18th, July 2022, Pilots and Engineers and other aviation stakeholders under the aegis of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) declared their resolve to join the protest declared by the National Exective Council of the NLC. while calling on the Federal Government to urgently in the interest of the nation put an end to the over five months ASUU strike, they declared their readiness to go the way of NLC to stage a nationwide protest.

A statement signed by NAAPE’s Deputy General Secretary, Umoh Ofonime, had read,“The refusal of the Federal Government to honour the agreement signed with the union since 2009 is very disturbing considering the negative impact the prolonged strike will create in the life of these children. NAAPE, therefore, completely supports the position of the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress to embark on a nationwide protest on July 26 and 27, 2022 in solidarity with the trade unions in the Nigeria Public Universities and others.”

Similarly, in a statement on Monday, signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu, ANAP,  called on the President Mohammadu Buhari led Federal Government, to end without further delay, the ongoing strike before it gets out of hand. The union had warned that its members will align with the NLC’s position to protest by demonstration the unfortunate situation in the tertiary education sector. The group also threatened that they will join in the strike in solidarity by closing the aviation sector if the government did not take urgent necessary steps to address ASUU’s demands. ANAP noted that education remained the bedrock of any nation aspiring for greatness, mentioning that ASUU strike will eventually lead to a regrettable situation in future if not well handled. “Our children are using eight years to read courses of four years with resources being wasted. We cannot continue this way,” the professionals  had lamented in the statement.

The NLC had on Sunday, 17th July, 2022, announced plans to commence a two-day nationwide protest slated for Tuesday, July 26, and Wednesday 27, July 2022, in solidarity with the ongoing strike action by striking university unions. A circular issued to all the State Chairmen of the NLC signed by the National President of the congress, Ayuba Wabba, had partly read, “We bring you fraternal greetings from the National Secretariat of the NLC. In line with the decisions of the National Executive Council meeting of the NLC held on June 30, 2022, we have scheduled as follows the National Days of Protest to get our children back to school and support our unions in Nigeria’s public universities fighting for quality education. Toeing behind NLC, bankers and other finance professionals under the aegis of the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) had declared resolve of solidarity to join the NLC in protest against the lingering strike.  In a statement signed by Its National President, Mr Anthony Abakpa, and its General Secretary, Mr Mohammed Sheikh, on Sunday, NUBIFIE had lamented it was obvious that the lingering strike, since February 14, would continue to take a huge toll on the academic performance of the students. Noting the psychological trauma it had impaired on both students and poor parents,  NUBIFIE called on President  Buhari to intervene concretely and end the ongoing strikes.

The NUBIFIE statement had read in part, “However, if after the one-day protest by NLC on this issue and nothing is done, the union will have no other option than to call out all our members in banks, insurance and other financial institutions in solidarity with ASUU.”

Recall that ASUU had since February 14 embarked on an indefinite strike over unresolved differences with the government. The union had accused the government of failing to honour and implement the Memorandum of Understanding and Memorandum of Action signed between both parties in 2020 – an agreement that was reached to end a nine months old strike by ASUU in 2020.

Other issues of contention include the government’s poor commitment to the payment of academic earned allowances and the continued use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS). Also, is the grievances of the academic stakeholders over the refusal of the government to adopt the Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution, as it’s recommended substitution for  IPPIS, and the proliferation of universities in the country. Grievances by other stakeholders in the nation’s public university system had seen more unions including the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), joining up in the strike.

The metabiotic impacts of the lingering strike are largely clustered in nature. From economic to social realities, the entire fabrics of the Country would largely have their shares on the negative sides of the coin. The problems of socio-economic threats against the Country have been worsened by too many forces. Threats of worsened insecurity, criminalities, social delinquencies, taking infectious toll have been noted to largely form parts of the impacts of the continuous stay of students at home.

The inconsistencies which such reactions as the rising mobilisation for protests could bear, are counterproductive to the workings of an economy, which has been debilitated with the forces of unfavourable deficiencies. The impacts of clustering forces working against the economy have become too deep seated, defying the reality of a favourable environment required for an economy to thrive upon.

Good governance demands proactivity with responsive disposition to critical affairs, with administrative patterns that satisfy the demands of emergent realities. The tardy response of the administrative character of governance in Nigeria has fallen short of the demands of good governance.

The ASUU strike has lingered too long to have the issues informing the disagreement addressed. Beyond the immediate issues of contest, the  disposition of breach of trust on the part of the Government, which over the years have formed the bedrock of recurring narratives of incessant strike, is lamentable. It has become essential for the Government to address, without unnecessary delay, the issues of contest holding the aggrieved stakeholders from returning to class, and doing so, decisively, with integrity to fulfil the terms of agreement that may inform such reality, is pertinent.

The Nigerian education sector is at a critical point. The problem has grown beyond the tolerable limit as public universities meant to be at full benefit of the masses have been on inconsistent deformities. The narratives of instability which have been borne by pronounced grievances of stakeholders within public institutions have made the profile of higher institutions distasteful to the masses. It has become of necessity that the Federal Government move to change the narratives with measures bearing depth of long term impacts to respond to the long term grievances of the stakeholders. This remains pertinent, as no formidable profile could be recorded where public higher institutions are the dwellings of disgruntled courses, housing stakeholders whose grievances have over decades been left unaddressed.