The lingering
industrial strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities comes with
a lot of cost for both students and lecturers.
Two months after the
Academic Staff Union of Universities embarked on an industrial action, the
negotiations between the union and the Federal Government is still deadlocked.
Like professor and
Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos, Yomi Akinyeye, noted, ‘one cannot
make an omelette without breaking eggs.’ In other words, one cannot achieve
something without causing a few inconveniences.
According to Akinyeye,
the strike will not only affect the students and the lecturers, but also the
country’s economy, in the long run.
“Most of the problems
that Nigeria is currently facing would have been better solved if the issues
are properly addressed and the priorities set right. The academic calendar of
the students has already been disrupted. This would mean the adjustment of
their time table and a delay in their year of graduation. The man hours lost
over this period would have to be paid for,” Akinyeye noted.
Considering the
duration of the strike, which has lingered since July 1, the total sum in
salary for the lecturers may run into billions of naira.
The strike also has a
spiral effect on the nation’s education and economic sector, noted professor of
Science and Technology Education, University of Lagos, Duro Ajeyalemi.
He stated that while
the dreams of many students in their final year have invariably been put on
hold, the delay in the university academic calendar will also increase the
competition among candidates willing to gain admission into the universities.
These factors will
also cause an increase in the number of fresh graduates in the labour market at
the end of the academic year, he said.
“Because the devil
also finds work for ideal hands, these students may be getting involved in
other things that may not be good for the economy; those who are just idling
about at home could cause security problems,” Ajeyalemi said.
The earlier the
Federal Government resolved the matter, the better for the economy, Ajeyalemi
advised.
“It was the government
that promised N400bn over a couple of years, starting with the release of
N100bn as at that time (2009). But they have not done that. Also, the
allowances were part of the agreement signed. So what ASUU is simply asking for
is the implementation of the agreement. It is a matter of give and take,” he
said.
Even students that
believe in ASUU’s struggle are tired of sitting at home. An undergraduate
student of the University of Lagos, Joshua Oyeniyi, wrote: “I write on behalf
of the millions of dreams that are getting squashed by the day as the total
shut-down of our universities persists. I write on behalf of the future of the
several hundreds of thousands who have been privileged, amidst the stiff
competition for admission, to grasp tertiary education but may end up worse
than their disadvantaged counterparts, since they may never finish, much less
finish on schedule their educational pursuits.”
He pleaded with the
Federal Government to honour the 2009 agreement with ASUU so that students
could return to the lecture rooms and pick up the pieces of their “scattered
semesters.”
An undergraduate of
the Lagos State University, Joshua Oyero, agreed that students bear the brunt
of the strike more because the lecturers would still receive their salaries
during the period the action lasted.
“We suffer more
intellectually. For instance, many schools would release their examination
time-tables a week after the strike is called off. They wouldn’t care to know
whether the school was three weeks into lectures when the strike had commenced.
They are only concerned with how to start another academic calendar,” he said,
adding that the Federal Government should not kill the “education economy by
their tight-fisted economic policies”
For Head, Department
of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Dr. Ayobami
Ojebode, the impact of the regular strike actions embarked upon by ASUU would
be most felt, not only in the quality of graduates being churned out by the
country’s public universities, but also by the labour market and employers of
labour. Like he put it, the country has a “greedy and rabidly impatient
employment system.”
“Graduates,
everywhere, are like computers. You don’t buy a laptop today and expect that
right now, it must run your salary system for you, and compute your
departmental results and do everything you want. No computer is configured to
do all of that. You must sit down and programme it; install the right software
and input data. Employers in Nigeria have to understand that.
“When you employ a
graduate, and you expect him to speak the language of your organization, write
your memos in your house style, or operate your fabrication machine as if that
is the only one known in the wide world, you are being unrealistic in your
expectations, impatient and greedy. Fresh graduates have to be trained – that
is, you must install your software in them and input data into them. This is
investment, also known as sowing – and the Nigerian entrepreneur wants to reap,
he or she doesn’t want to sow. Reaping where you hadn’t sown is a major
Nigerian problem,” he said.
Many analysts have
argued that considering the issues involved, the fruits of this strike would
certainly not taste sweet for any of the parties involved.
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