The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may arrive at a decision on its eight-month long strike tomorrow, Thursday at an emergency meeting which is believed by many would bring an end to the lingering face off between it and the federal Government over the situation at the Nigerian universities.
To this effect, consultation is expected to begin today if all things work out well
This new move is coming on the heels of the meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who called several meetings between the Union and the Federal Government.
The crisis started as a result of ASUU as the failure of the government to meet its lingering demands.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, after what he described as “failed negotiations”, dragged the striking lecturers to the National Industrial Court.
The National Industrial Court had on September 21 ordered ASUU to call off the strike.
The court granted the motion on notice filed by the Federal Government directing the lecturers to return to classrooms.
Ruling on the interlocutory injunction, the trial judge, Polycarp Hamman, restrained ASUU from continuing with the industrial action pending the determination of the suit filed against it by the Federal Government.
Displeased by the ruling, the Union headed to the Appellate Court to appeal the ruling.
Students in Nigeria have been at home since Feb. 14 thanks to an indefinite strike by lecturers across the country. But following recent interventions by federal lawmakers, and court rulings, classrooms could reopen later this month.
On Oct. 10, the union representing the lecturers met with members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. A video of the meeting seemed to show both parties amicably agreeing that the eight-month strike will be resolved “in a few days.” Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of the union that comprises over 80 government-owned universities, said the result of the strike will be that Nigerians will “be proud” of the universities in the country.
Strikes by academic staff in Nigerian universities are very common and many have spanned months. There have been at least 15 strikes since 2000. This year’s episode has not been called off just yet as the union’s zones would have to meet and decide on suspending the action.
But for millions of disillusioned students and thousands of unpaid lecturers, the prospects for a return to the classroom look good after protracted negotiations between lecturers and the Nigerian government. Femi Falana, a popular lawyer who represents the lecturers’ union, said on a TV program that “the strike will soon be called off.”
What has caused Nigeria’s long universities strike?
Like many before it, this year’s eight-month strike has deepened a lack of confidence in Nigeria’s tertiary education system, even with escalating out-of-school numbers at primary and secondary school levels. Mass youth migration abroad for graduate studies has increased due to worsening insecurity and economic crises but also because frequent strikes bring the quality of a Nigerian education into question.
Nigerian lecturers tend to have one reason for this: money.
For the last decade and half, the union has accused the federal government of often reneging on agreements to reform the independence of universities, revenue generation and funding. A 2009 agreement (pdf) reached under two presidents before the current Muhammadu Buhari administration remains contentious between both parties. Among other things, that agreement fixed a 26% minimum allocation from Nigeria’s annual budget to education, half of which should go to universities.
Since 2020, recent strikes have also been about getting the government to pay lecturers through an alternative payments system, separate from the one used to pay government workers in over 700 organizations in Nigeria’s civil service. This has proved a stumbling block with Nigeria’s technology regulator saying that the lecturers’ preferred payment system has failed multiple integrity tests.
Negotiations have gone back and forth all year, leading to a suit by the government at Nigeria’s Industrial Court questioning the legitimacy of the strike, a suit the union lost. An appeals court on Oct. 7 asked the union to call its strike off.
In the week since, lawmakers and president Buhari have become more involved in trying to resolve the strike, increasing confidence in an imminent end. Still, it is not clear that the union will get all it has asked for all year.
At his presentation of the 2023 budget this month, Buhari complained that Nigeria, constrained by resources, can no longer inter any agreement it has resource to finance.
Olusola Bello with agency report