Strike not a pleasant option for us – ASUU
By Saka Laaro Ilorin.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has clarified that its members do not relish going on strike, contrary to popular belief.
Speaking at Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, the institution’s ASUU chairman, Abdulganiyu Sheu Salau, expressed the union’s frustration with the federal government’s perceived hypocrisy.
According to Salau, the government’s actions have left the union with no choice but to embark on strikes to press home their demands.
He emphasized that ASUU is tired of the government’s failure to honor agreements and address the lingering issues in the nation’s education sector.
The union recalled that in 2009, the federal government reached an agreement with the ASUU on key issues bordering on conditions of service, funding and university autonomy without fulfilling the agreement.
“Members of ASUU are parents who have students in various Nigerian universities. Why would we want a case whereby our children are sent home? But we have to go on strike because we’ve reached out to government on several occasions and there was no response. We’ve gone through the normal doors and backdoors, but nothing has happened. And the last resort, as allowed by the law establishing universities, is to go on strike. Our members are being owed and some are leaving the country in droves for South Africa and England, for example.
“I want to say with all authorities that struggles and strike by the members of the union brought about some of the infrastructures we have today, especially, in this university. So, if we’ve not been struggling, Nigerian universities would have been down. We’re not strike mongers and we don’t always love to go on strike. We’re hardworking citizens. That’s why we’re sensitizing members of the general public, students, market women, stakeholders, etc about the situation. We don’t want to go on strike but we can’t be teaching in empty stomach. Our senior colleagues (professors) are earning just $300. What can we do with that?”, he asked rhetorically.
The union also criticised the federal government for non-implementation of UNESCO recommendations of a 26 per cent benchmark educational budget
for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria, as advocated by the union. Salau, who lamented low education budget in the country, said that successive Nigerian governments have allocated an average of 5 to 8% of their budgets to education over the last 10 years.
He also said that one of the contending issues is the funding for the Revitalisation of Public Universities based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012, 2013, and the MoA of 2017.
