This Tuesday, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), comprising mainly teachers in the federal universities, staged warning protests across Nigeria to drive home their symbolic frustration and a threat to re-enact the industrial disharmony of the past. Calling on the Federal Government to look at some grey areas contained in previous agreements signed by the government and teachers, the union called for improved welfare and quick review of poor conditions of service. From Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to Federal University of Lafia, University of Ilorin, University of Calabar, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Federal University of Technology Akure, among other universities, the annoyed lecturers chanted solidarity songs. They declared their readiness to embark on a titanic battle that could culminate in the indefinite closure of public universities if their plights are not addressed.
Quarrelling With Past
It should be noted that this is the first time the union is embarking on such an industrial action since the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president over two years ago. The fact that the university teachers did not embark on such an action in the last two years reflects their appreciation of the current administration’s efforts in resolving some of the problems troubling Nigeria’s tertiary education. The warning strike is coming on the trail of the usual threats by ASUU on the Federal Government to either fulfil its own side of the bargain as contained in the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement or face the wrath of the teachers.
Other conditions to be met, according to the union, to avoid the looming closure of the nation’s ivory towers is for the government to release three-and-half months’ withheld salaries owed to members; payment of outstanding 25–35 percent salary arrears; promotion arrears; revitalisation of universities and adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution(UTAS) over the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to preserve the autonomy of the university system.
Rejecting the government’s proposed tertiary institution staff loan scheme as a gesture that won’t solve any problem, ASUU lamented that its members have remained on the same salary scale since 2009, and accused the Federal Government of deliberately relegating the welfare of teachers. The union called for the immediate release of the report by the Yayale Ahmed renegotiation committee that was submitted to the government in February 2025.
Infrastructural Deficits
With the red signal raised in this week’s warning strike, only those who refuse to read the handwriting on the wall would assume peace lies ahead on our campuses. In a tone that clearly demonstrates their resolve not to cave in to their demands, ASUU called on clerics, traditional rulers, among others, to pile pressure on the government to do the needful and avert the looming Armageddon that is poised to sweep across public universities.
Tuesday’s warning strike came on the heels of a seven-year moratorium on the creation of new universities and polytechnics, among others. Having realised the need to forestall the proliferation of universities, even when some of the existing ones are still underutilised, the Minister of education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, explained that the government’s decision to place a temporary ban on new universities was premised on the need to halt the decay and tackle deteriorating standards in the quality of education. Stressing that current challenges trailing tertiary education are no longer about access to tertiary education, Alausa declared that halting the proliferation of tertiary schools to tackle the infrastructural deficits has now become urgent to arrest the drift in the education sector.
Even as the government is faced with the arduous task of salvaging what is left of public universities, it is obvious that Nigeria needs more universities. It is on record that every year, out of the two million candidates who apply to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), less than 30 percent, amounting to 600,000 applicants, are admitted into universities. More than any time, Nigerians are witnessing the mushrooming of private tertiary universities that are privately established for commercial profit rather than providing social services to the nation.
ASUU As Culprits
In a country where everyone is involved in blaming everyone for everything wrong, members of ASUU are of the intellectual class that is expected to stand for truth to avert the failure of the system. Any action or inaction, or action in the face of corruption plaguing the system, makes them collaborating agents in the rot that is destroying the university system. Many members of ASUU are no longer involved in what they were employed for, but have joined the mad race for financial upliftment. Recruitments into the teaching cadre of the university are now based on primordial sentiments, as university teachers now look more like weekenders who see the teaching career as a stepping stone to negotiate for another upliftment into other careers.
Unlike in the past, where sincerity and truth resided within the walls of the ivory tower, our university system has been trapped in an appalling situation where intellectuals, who are supposed to uphold the truth, are now worshippers of Mammon and serving the interests of some selfish politicians determined to ruin the university system.
The continuous resort to strike actions by ASUU to resolve its problems with the government has now become an expired strategy. Many years of fruitless outcomes linked to strike actions only amount to expecting rats to lay eggs. Those frustrating the university system are within the members of ASUU. Lowering of academic standards, as manifested in the engagement of poorly qualified teachers, remains a crippling blight in many universities. The illegal recruitment of academic staff without recourse to procedures has turned some of the public universities into an employment avenue and not for academics.
ASUU must clean itself of the rot its members are involved in. As they point with one finger to the failures of the government; its members are the main culprits in the failing system called public university. The union members must stop using public universities as harvest centres. Our dons in public universities must dedicate their energies to what they are primarily paid for in public universities, and not engage in part-time teaching in private universities.
To resolve the recurring problems of incessant industrial actions in public universities, members of ASUU must be willing to compromise and yield to new strategies. The Tinubu-led Administration should continue not to shut its doors for dialogue in the hope of resolving some of the issues that have become inherited problems.
