On February 14, 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on a strike action. The move which appeared calculated to give Nigerian undergraduate students an unwelcome valentine gift was the latest episode in a faceoff many Nigerians are familiar with.
One month has since become two and two seven as the union has dug in citing the federal government`s lack of commitment to resolving the festering issues which they argue would put Nigerian public universities on a much firmer ground going forward.
However, amidst what has become an excruciating experience for Nigerian undergraduate students in the last seven months, what the students have remained absolutely convinced about is that between ASUU and the federal government, seven precious months have been shaved off their academic calendar for no good reason.
A union of unease
ASUU as can be gleaned from its name is made up of academic staff in those public universities that are part of the body. It is a union of teaching staff and by virtue of that it has withing its ranks some of Nigeria`s most eminent teachers, those that are left anyways because over the years the sirens of greener pastures elsewhere have shown an uncanny ability to lure away Nigeria`s best brains.
The pull and power of the union comes from the fact that it has within its ranks many of those who are involved in the highest levels of the academia in Nigeria. It is a diverse membership indeed.
Its power comes from the fact that its spread and pull can force the government to listen when it talks. Traditionally, the union has never been reluctant to down tools. Over many years, there have also been found at the leadership of the union some of Nigeria`s most radical academics who even during the most brutal of military regimes demanded that the chains been kept away from Nigerians. It is a union sprinkled with history and the authority that only a history of courage can confer.
However, there have also been arguments that over the years the ranks of the union have been infiltrated by those whose motives went beyond the welfare of their members and the interests of Nigerian undergraduate students and education as a whole in Nigeria. These arguments would be fortified by the occasional flippancy the union has betrayed at critical times.
Yet, for many Nigerians, in spite of ASUU`s many shortcomings, there is only one stop when the buck is to stop for the poor welfare of academic staff in Nigerian universities and Nigerian undergraduates. That stop would be at the table of the table of the government.
A government that lacks gravitas
Governance continues to falter badly in Nigeria. It was always the case since destructive military regimes ceased from the country`s corridors of power in 1999.However, Nigeria`s leadership failure has been especially dire in the last seven years under the watch of a government that seems not just incapable of putting any foot right, but also unable to get basic priorities set right.
Rounds after rounds of negotiations to get ASUU to call off the strike have yielded little fruits. The government`s tactic of getting some of its megaphones to wail in the media over the strike has also failed badly as Nigerians have long grown suspicious of a government that says one thing but means another.
Because Nigerians have learnt to read the signs the hard way, they noted with disbelief that while the strike was on, humongous amounts of money were sunk into the primaries of political parties by some of those who were no more than employees of the government.
While the strike has been on, more than a billion has also gone into purchasing cars for Niger Republic where the president has first cousins.
ASUU`s lingering strike action which has left Nigerian undergraduate students rooted at home is a tale in itself. It is a tale of how low leadership has sunk on so many levels in Nigeria. It is also a tale of how a country is sabotaging its own future by allowing its young people spend months at home because of an avoidable impasse.
History will unkindly remember those under whose watch these travesties transpired.
Kene Obiezu
Twitter: @kenobiezu
