₦airaland Forum

Yankiss:
To end ASUU perennial strikes the following measures must be undertaken:
1. No lecturer should have any ward outside Nigerian Institutions for first degrees, once they have any they should as a matter resign.
2. No politician in Nigeria should have any ward in overseas countries, at least for first degrees.

Once the above two conditions are guaranteed, sanity will return to the Ivory Towers. There will be no further strikes and threats of strikes. FG and ASUU will always strike a balance.

You're over right! That's just the solution.

If our leaders had their children living and schooling in this country, they will behave.

TheiaTalks:
The problem is employers are hardly considering graduates from private universities again

For real

you want to beg oppressor
This is how slaves begged their white captors.
Very funny

if them no strike nkor, if their academic year is not disrupted, it still makes no differences, FG has nothing to offer to Nigerian students. there is no guarantee of getting a good job after graduation.

Wonk:
Nigeria's really bleedin'! As a fact, this wasn't happenin' in the 90s....

Not only did it happen in the 1990s, it happened a lot of times.

ASUU was active back then

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uptownemmygee:
For real

Yeah, especially for first degree. I've seen a few samples...no be dem say dem say...so e be like say we go just rough am with federal uni ni o

Political strike... ASUU is not serious on dere own

Aremson14:
My advice to students facing ASUU strike; go and learn a skill forget university education during the strike. If I had known then(during various ASUU strike) I would have put more effort in tech, I finished 2019 but due to covid and nasu couldn't go for nysc, i used that year to learn web dev. Last week I turned down an offer from a tech company, willing to pay very well for my service even b4 finishing nysc. I'm confident the future is bright not cause of my bsc but my SKILL

Damnn!!! Bleep off brrh

who is this idiot ,, who told u we are even worried

TheiaTalks:
The problem is employers are hardly considering graduates from private universities again

Which employers?

Why not expose yourself or perhaps stop listening to hear say.

You better pray and stop digesting popular assumptions and perceptions.

Odewaleadesoye:
Source: https://dailypost.ng/2022/02/15/ASUU-strike-nigerian-students-deserve-better-macaroni-begs-fg/

this is seriously serious and its badly bad of Nigeria government. We are now begging federal government for Fundamental human right. Death country

Na only FG He beg....him no beg ASUU?
Most Headline are misleading... based on what the people want to read

Amazinggrace71:
A lecturer once told me that ASUU are trying to prevent our universities from becoming like our government secondary schools have become

And you believe your lecturer

I think the labour minister and his education counterpart are lazy and dummy .. these are men that enjoyed Government scholarships in their days but now toiling with the destinies of their grandchildren .. so sad how we got to this level

u are as useless as u see ur country. ediotic omo ofo

kenniefawole:
My advise to student , learn a digital skill ! This country is useless .. Parents encourage and ensure your children learn some valuable digital skills . Certificate are useless this days. We offer all form of training and internship at Kennietech . I will be having a free workshop very soon where I talk about valuable digital skills to learn . Reach me via whatsapp to stay updated .

TheiaTalks:
The problem is employers are hardly considering graduates from private universities again

You people lie unprovoked sha.

Charly68:
I think the labour minister and his education counterpart are lazy and dummy .. these are men that enjoyed Government scholarships in their days but now toiling with the destinies of their grandchildren .. so sad how we got to this level

They enjoyed government scholarships because they were fewer in number then

When there were six universities and each of them had less than 3000 students and entry into said universities was tougher

praying is not their speaking, walkout and demonstration not what they knowing

TheiaTalks:
The problem is employers are hardly considering graduates from private universities again

Which kind nonsense? Make all of dem getat abeg

If it happens or not all i know am planning and dedicated to learn a skill to support oneself for this naija wey certificate seems of no value Even if graduating as the best

TheiaTalks:
Yeah, especially for first degree. I've seen a few samples...no be dem say dem say...so e be like say we go just rough am with federal uni ni o

I'm done with school oo
Street got my bills

Blablamalala:
And you believe your lecturer

texazzpete:
You people lie unprovoked sha.

I used to think so too... wish 'twas a lie

backbencher:
Not only did it happen in the 1990s, it happened a lot of times.

ASUU was active back then

You serious right now? Were you born in the 90s? Just curious!

I laff in chankafan

Wonk:
You serious right now? Were you born in the 90s? Just curious!

Before that. (Am also related to people who were lecturers back then)

Modifed

ASUU has been fighting with government for decades now. (Professor Jega, who was in charge of INEC when Buhari won in 2015, was ASUU chairman during the 1992 strike, the first strike of the 1990's)

Here is a bit of history from ASUU's own site...

By 1992, the situation of academic staff on the university campuses had become more intolerable. The drive to leave the universities for foreign countries and the private sector had become, for many, the solution to the decay in the universities and the demoralization of university teachers.

In 1990, ASUU was de-proscribed. In 1991, following the Delegates Conference in Badagry, ASUU asked the Babangida regime for negotiation. There were two rounds of negotiation: The first, under the chairmanship of Mr. Senas Ukpanah, broke down when, following a disagreement on Governments offer on salary, the chairman unilaterally suspended negotiation (May 30, 1991). This was followed by governments announcement of a unilateral package.

The failure by the Federal Government to negotiate seriously on the conditions in the universities led to the 1992 strike declared by NEC on May 14, 1992 and suspended after one week because of an IAP order for immediate suspension of the strike. Although the IAP ordered both sides to the negotiating table, Government did not resume negotiation. ASUU resume its strike immediately on July 20, 1993. ASUU was banned for a second time on August 23, 1992. ASUU had the support of the public, the professional organizations, NANS, etc. When all the tactics to break the strike failed the Government had to devise a way of negotiating with a banned union. This took place between the Federal Governments Team led by Owelle Chikelu, the Minister of Establishment and Management Services, and representatives of ASNU (Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities).

The September 3, 1992 Agreement was a product of these negotiations.
The Agreement was significant for the following reasons:
a. It showed that a determined, principled and organized citizenry can defeat a military dictatorship. ASUUs success showed the civilian resistance organizations that they could defeat the military.
b. The agreement showed that there could be a rational approach to the development of universities. The Agreement, by providing a periodic view of the funding needs of the universities, allowed universities to plan, based on expected funds.
c. The Agreement re-affirmed the right of workers to collective bargaining.
d. The Agreement enabled a more scientific approach to funding.
e. The Agreement kept the democratic aspiration of the people for democratic rights alive.
f. It formed the basis for further struggles by the union for the defence of the university system and for education.

But the 1992 Agreement also led to some problems for the future:
First, the Agreement led to what came to be known as the problem of parity. ASUU had argued for and convinced the Governments Negotiating Team that creating a special salary scale would be necessary for resolving the Brain Drain Problem. After the 1992 Agreement, Government encouraged other unions to return to one single salary structure for the universities. This took its toll on workers unity in the university system. ASUUs position was that each union ought to be able to articulate and defend its demands.
Second, the success of the Agreement in improving the material well-being of academic staff, and the renewed struggles to defend material-economic gains, paved the way for a misconception in some section of ASUU membership about the essence of ASUU as a union.
Third, the doggedness with which the union pursued the defence of the Agreement was to lead a politically unsuspecting public to misunderstand the goals of ASUUs struggles.
Fourth, the parity problem drove a wedge between ASUU and other unions in the university, carrying with it a cost in solidarity among unions and workers.

The period of Abacha dictatorship presented a great challenge to ASUU. In view of the constant assault on our union by Buhari-Idiagbon, and then by Babangida, could the union survive another brutal dictatorship? ASUU chose the path of struggles and principle. ASUU NEC decided to join the democratic, anti-military movement to end military rule, abandoning its struggle for the university system through the defence of the 1992 Agreement. ASUU in fact believed that the struggle for the Agreement was a defence of industrial democracy, for fulfilling the right to education and national development. ASUU knew that if it compromised on its anti-miltiary positions, Abachas regime would grant the union considerable concessions. ASUU demonstrated its unwillingness to trade principle for concessions when it took an open, very strong and unambiguous condemnation of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa. This was to draw a letter “from the Minister of Education, Dr. Ibrahim T. Liman, to Dr. H.A. Asobie, then President of ASUU, that ASUU was jeopardizing its relationship with Government.
ASUU did not change its position and instead, began to strengthen its relationship with the civil society organizations. That Dr. Iyorcha Ayu and Dr. T. Liman were former members of ASUU ' Dr. Ayu, UNIJOS Chairman before he left the university, did not help ASUUs struggles. (It was then Dr. Abraham Imogie who, later, as the Minister of Education in Ernest Shonekans Government, that showed, without apology, understanding of ASUUs positions.)

In 1994, ASUU went on strike demanding from Abachas government (1) re-negotiation of the Agreement (2) the re-instatement of the over eighty lecturers whose appointments were terminated at the University of Abuja by Prof. Isa Mohammed (3) the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections.
The strike did not succeed for three reasons. First, the political demand the first directly political demand in ASUUs struggles, caused a disagreement within ASUU itself. While some saw the June 12 issue as a broad democratic issue, some saw it as broad democratic issues hijacked by ethnic interests. Given these readings, ASUU had to drop the political demand.
The struggle for the reinstatement of the UNIABUJA colleagues and the renegotiation of the Agreement continued throughout Abachas regime.

In 1996, ASUU declared another strike to press its demand for the re-negotiation of the Agreement and the re-instatement of the UNIABUJA colleagues. The struggle, a protracted one that lasted six months, saw the unleashing, by government, of various tactics, including tactics aimed at dividing ASUU on ethno-regional lines, in order to break the strike. Salaries were stopped. Vice-Chancellors were given between 5 and 8 million naira to organize false classes to convince ASUU members and the public that it had broken ASUUs strike. ASUU had to suspend the strike in response to wide appeal from the public and students. Abachas government had, of course begun a negotiation. It set up a Negotiating Team with Professor Umaru Shehu as Chairman. For the first time, the Government Negotiating Team was constituted in accordance with the Cookey Commisisons recommendation.
Second, the government Negotiating Team included both Pro-Chancellors of Federal and State Universities. The negotiation was unilaterally announced by the Federal Ministry of Education a day after ASUU refused to accept the introduction of fees in the universities and to call off its strike. The Government announced the dissolution of ASUU National Executive Committee and left branch unions to operate. ASUU did not accept this, just as it did not accept Babangidas government ban.
The Governing Councils invited ASUU Branch Executives to negotiate for their branch members. ASUU decided these two ways of dealing with the problem: No branches should negotiate separately with their Governing Councils. But if any branch met with its Council, it should present the same Negotiating document that had been adopted by ASUU National and presented to Government. Governments efforts to decentralize negotiations thus collapsed.
In response to ASUUs challenges, the Abacha Government, through the NUC Executive Secretary, wrote Vice Chancellors to remove ASUU leaders from their jobs. At the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr. Assisi Asobie was sacked. The Dr. George-Amadi-led Branch Executive Committee was sacked, adding to the UNIABUJA victims of military regression. At other campuses, ASUU officials were removed from their jobs without trials.

This was the position until General Abdulsalami took over in 1998. The Minister of Education, Chief Ola-Iya Oni, made overtures to ASUU, as part of the efforts to win legitimacy for the new military government. It facilitated the re-instatement of the members of the union sacked by the Abacha regime for their role in ASUUs 1996 strike and those who were dismissed by Decree 17 of 1984. A legal victory (in 1998) for ASUU was the judgement of an Enugu High Court that ASUU was not banned by the 1996 Decree.
Abdulsalamis regime, on May 25, 1999, signed an Agreement with ASUU intended to be an interim palliative measure to enhance the income of academics, without prejudice to a comprehensive negotiation at a future date. It did not cover basic salaries, funding and autonomy, it only adjusted allowances.

Sauce: History and struggles of ASUU

See also : ASUU strike , an endless phenomenon ....from Punch newspapers (23 April 2020)
Relevant quote below...

ASUU’s birth was a very welcome development otherwise the university system in Nigeria would have been extinct by now. The first national strike by ASUU was called in 1988 to request fair wages and university autonomy. This led to the proscription of ASUU on August 7, 1988 by the military regime of Major General Ibrahim Babangida, including the seizure of all her property. The ban was lifted in 1990 but her activities and declaration of another strike led to a second proscription on August 23, 1992. This ban was soon lifted and a series of meetings between ASUU and the Federal Government finally led to an agreement on September 3, 1992. The Federal Government met several of the union’s demands including the right of the university academic staff to collective bargaining. There were further strikes in 1994 and 1996 to protest against the dismissal of 49 University of Ilorin lecturers in late 1993 by General Sani Abacha. Further strikes were called by ASUU between 1999 and 2020