ASUU It Is Enough

ASUU It Is Enough

Shortly after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began their current strike, I had written in this column that it was unwise for the government to have allowed the strike to begin at all. I stated that it is usually a difficult thing to get the university teachers to go back to their classes whenever they embark on such action. The minister of education, Dr. Babalola Borishade had tried to brow beat the lecturers. He was advised to make a hasty retreat from that strategy. Somebody close to the man told me shortly after that he had even realised the futility of that approach even before that advice was sent out from this column.

Since the strike began in April both sides have made efforts to get it resolved, with little success. It must be said that it took the government quite a while to recognise the enormity of what it was facing. This government has a disturbing casual approach to issues that of great public interest. And it has an unfortunate belief that only its prescription is best for whatever the issue of the day is. Of course that is not the way of democracy, which places a great deal of emphasis on consultation. I am not about to get into the details of what motivated the university teachers to go on strike, for this is not the time to start apportion blames on who is right and who is wrong.

We can however broadly state that the lecturers are striking over two main issues: improved academic environment and an enhanced pay packet. The tone of the negotiations clearly indicates that the guys are more interested in what comes into their pockets at the end of the month. Which is legitimate, for what are trade unions for if they do not exist to fight for the improvement of the welfare of their members?

Unfortunately, it has now become clear that those negotiating on behalf of ASUU have decided to hold the nation to ransom. Let me quickly state here that this is no public relations job for the government. No government person has met me or spoken to me or written to canvass their position. (Which is a shame, but we will come to that later.)

My grouse against ASUU is borne out of the fact that they have taken this particular strike too far. It is their second strike since the Obasanjo government came onboard. It is logical to state that we should expect another strike from them sometime next year. No doubt, this government made a fundamental mistake in negotiating an agreement with the lecturers, and later backed out from signing. It showed either that the government didn't have faith in the people it asked to negotiate on its behalf or that it was not ready to take the exercise seriously right from the onset. You don't play such games with a sophisticated body such as ASUU. It just cannot work.

The government's mishandling of the issue at the beginning notwithstanding, there are a lot of people who believe that it has made reasonable concessions in this matter and that the teachers should sheath their striking swords and return to the classrooms. I have been speaking extensively with one of the lecturers who never believed in the strike. Even when I was defending their position, he argued that the whole enterprise was wrong. According to him, if you go on strike to get an agreement signed what would you do if the other party fails to honour the agreement? Go on exile? I didn't have an answer for that.

By refusing to make any reasonable concessions, the ASUU team in the negotiation with government is not endearing itself to the people. I can confidently tell the striking teachers that many of those who were sympathising with them have since changed their mind. And the reasons for this are not far-fetched. When you are fighting any battle, especially on something that impinges on the life of so many people, you must be willing to make concessions for the overall good. In any case we must always have at the back of our mind that there is more than one side to any story. While the teachers believe fervently in the cause they are fighting for, others also have a case.

Truth is, almost every worker in this country has cause to go on strike. Very few people are earning enough to meet their needs. It is because of this that people have become creative in the perpetual struggle for survival. Which is why the war against corruption will be very difficult to win. We all know that if workers from all the sectors of the economy go on strike and they become as intransigent as ASUU is right now, then we will be heading for a system collapse. I am not quite sure anybody is ready to take this struggle that far.

Another reason why the ASUU people ought to soft-pedal at this stage is the fact that since this fight is for higher wages – that is essentially what it is – it is not in the interest of our children and wards in the universities. Happily, a lot of them also have children in these institutions. Nobody needs to remind them that having those kids at home eating voraciously and mounting sundry bills is not exactly how to make Nigeria a great country.

It must however be said that the government underrated ASUU when this strike was about to begin. First, it failed to take cognisance of the history of strikes by university teachers in this country. And may be because it had a bad cause from the moral perspective, it didn’t see the urgent need to win the public to its side. If it had, I am sure that public pressure would have made the ASUU people revise their hardline position since.

I think the ASUU members who are in the vanguard of the current exercise ought to learn a few things from their predecessors, one of which is knowing when to beat a retreat. To give the impression that they are professional agitators who are bent on having their way no matter the cost to the larger system does no good to their image as molders of leaders of tomorrow.