ASUU strike, the university students, the president’s intervention, and the forlorn hope

By Abdelghaffar Amoka

On Tuesday, 19th of July 2022 President Buhari had a meeting with his men concerning the ongoing ASUU strike. It was reported that Adamu Adamu requested Chris Ngige to hand off from the strike matter and allow him to handle it. There were some reports that the President gave Adamu Adamu 2 weeks to resolve it while some other reports said Adamu Adamu said he can resolve the issue in 2 to 3 weeks.

After exhausting all their options, President Buhari was able to find reasons to call the relevant MDA for a meeting when the strike was exactly 5 months and 5 days. They went on media blackmail, but it didn’t work. The AGF that was busy raping the country was directed to press the button to stop the salary to use hunger to force the strike to end.

The trigger-happy Amadu Maikanti complied immediately but they were shocked that the persecution did not work. Ngige, the smooth-talking partisan conciliator tried his divide and rule tactics that did not work. The deceptive plea to suspend the strike while negotiation continues did not work. The “enough is enough” threat from Oga at the Top did work. He had no choice but to call a meeting with his boys after 5 months.

Some people had hoped for the president’s intervention but the people that know the president found no reason to be excited. Some said he may have even forgotten that there was a 2 to 3 weeks commitment to end the strike. Let’s have a review of his previous intervention on the ASUU strike in 2020.

The ASUU delegation sought an audience and met with the President and they eventually got an audience on Thursday, 9th January 2020 Even though the President was able to spare just 5 minutes for the Intellectuals, they made a case on the implication of IPPIS on the university system.

President Buhari received their submission and handed over the documents to the Minister of Education. The President told the Minister that he has a lot of work to do. Our thinking was that the Education Minister and Finance Minister will work together with ASUU to find a way forward.

But while the Minister of Education was engaging the ASUU team, the Minister of Finance and AGF were issuing threats of salary stoppage. The Finance Minister decided to stop their salary about a month after the meeting with the President as the Education Minister was still engaging the ASUU team. The ministers of education and finance could not work together.

Then, a two weeks warning strike was declared to enable the stakeholders to sit down and talk and use the 2 weeks to resolve the lingering issues. During the engagement, the government team actually admitted that there is an issue in the software concerning the peculiarities but that ASUU members should enroll in IPPIS pending when ASUU can finish the development of UTAS to be integrated with IPPIS.

The 2 weeks warning strike ended, and an indefinite strike was declared that lasted for over 8 months. The president possibly forgot that he had asked the Education Minister to solve the problem. Ngige was even bragging that he raised the memo to the president for approval for the payment of the withheld salary like he did a favour for ASUU members. 9 months strike after a meeting with the president? The question then is: what is the effect of the meeting between the ASUU delegation and the president?

The signed December 2020 MoA that led to the suspension of the strike was not fulfilled as usual. Then, a strike was declared in February 2022 after all other options failed to work. And Ngige of the Labour ministry allegedly sent a memo for the immediate stoppage of the salary of workers attached to the ministry of education.

The President found it necessary to intervene after 5 months of the strike. I hope the president still remembers that public university students have spent nearly 6 months at home and that it is a week to the 2-3 weeks promised by the education minister to end the strike.

2009 agreement already renegotiated and with all sincerity, the matter can be put to rest within a few days but they are playing politics with it. After 24 weeks, ASUU has rolled over the strike for another 4 weeks to give the government more time to do the needful. Will the president’s intervention end the strike in a week? Time will tell.

Education is said to be one of the most important investments a country can make in its future. It is said to be a powerful agent of change, improves health and livelihoods, contributes to social stability, and drives long-term economic growth. But Nigeria is still struggling and the education of the people is not a priority to the leaders. So, how do we achieve social stability and economic growth?

It’s on record that during the FEC’s Special Retreat on Education held in Abuja on the 13th of November 2017, President Buhari said: “We cannot afford to continue lagging behind. Education is our launch-pad to a more successful, more productive, and more prosperous future. This administration is committed to revitalizing our education system and making it more responsive and globally competitive”.

5 years later, it is not clear whether the president really meant those words at the special retreat or if it was just a speech written for him to read. I don’t know how a leader that truly believes that education is our launch-pad to a more successful, more productive, and more prosperous future will let universities be shut down for 15 months between 2020 and 2022 (9 months in 2020 and 6 months in 2022).

I don’t understand how a leader that truly believes that education is our launch-pad to a more successful, more productive, and more prosperous future will treat his university professors like a piece of rag. According to the speech, the government is committed to the revitalization of the education system but ASUU has been in a battle with the same government since 2016 for the revitalization of public universities.

With the level of development in the UK, Tony Blair in 2002 said: “Education is and remains the absolute number one priority for the country because without a quality education system and an educated workforce, we cannot succeed economically”.

Ironically, Nigerian leaders get their kids educated abroad but do not want the masses to have a quality education. Public primary education has collapsed. Public secondary education has collapsed, and the public university is on its way to the state of current public primary schools. I guess the thinking of elitist political leaders is that it is the quality of the education of their kids that will make the country succeed economically.

The ASUU strike is not new. It only got worse with the coming of the so-called democracy in 1999. There were 19 months and 1 week ASUU strike between 1999 and 2007, 17 months and 2 weeks ASUU strike between 2007 and 2015, and 18 months and 2 weeks ASUU strike from 2015 till date. Why must ASUU go on strike for the government to address the obvious decay in public universities?

Let’s have a look at the records set and broken. The longest strike that ASUU had embarked on before the coming of Buhari’s administration was 6 months in 2003. It happened during OBJ’s re-election period. President Buhari broke that record in 2020 when ASUU was on 9 months strike.

Meanwhile, no government has broken the record of 19 months and 1 week strike set by Obasanjo’s 8 years government, but Buhari’s government is on its way to breaking it and has got less than 3 weeks to achieve ft that.

The amazing part is that the 2023 election is about 6 months away and APC is seeking re-election for continuity. But surprisingly, they are treating the university crisis like it’s not an issue and has no consequences. I don’t know how the party will convince a lecturer whose salary is withheld for several months under this current tough economic situation to vote for the party.

I don’t know how the party will convince the university students that have lost a semester and still counting to vote for the party. I don’t know how the party will convince the parents that are frustrated seeing their kids at home instead of being at school to vote for the party.

Meanwhile, OBJ created a record in 2003 by winning his re-election while ASUU was on 6 months strike. OBJ even defeated Buhari on some university campuses. Who knows, APC may break the OBJ record and win the 2023 election despite tormenting the university lecturers and students.

©Amoka