Another ASUU strike?
FREQUENT strikes by university workers have become a source of concern to the public. In the face of declining academic standards, the last thing that Nigerian parents want is their children not going to school. For nearly eight years, intermittent strikes have made it impossible for Nigerian universities to have a predictable academic calendar with the result that courses originally advertised to last four years frequently end up lasting far longer because of disruptions.
This is why the present face-off between Dr. Sam Egwu, the Minister of Education and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) just after the conclusion of two years of marathon negotiations, is again creating tension. The federal government with the assistance of former union leader and current governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, brokered a peace accord with ASUU bringing to an end a four-month old strike on conditions of service, funding and university autonomy. Nigerians upon learning of the accord heaved a sigh of relief that at last the agony over interminable strikes and closures had come to an end.
It comes as an unsettling surprise that before the ink is dry on the agreement, ASUU is again threatening to embark on another round of nationwide strike. The issue this time is the invocation of the principle of 'no work no pay' by the federal government. In a circular dated August 21, 2009, the federal government has ordered that the August and September salaries of the striking workers be withheld by Vice Chancellors of all federal-owned universities in accordance with its policy of no work, no pay.
The affected university lecturers find the posture of the federal government incomprehensible as the Oshiomhole-brokered agreement clearly stated that "nobody shall be victimised in any way whatsoever for his or her role in the process leading to the strike as well as the re-negotiation and agreement".
We think that bearing in mind the difficulties Nigerian parents and their wards have encountered in the past eight years, the country can ill afford another round of a preventable strike. It must be borne in mind that the genesis of that face-off between the ASUU and the federal government is the refusal of the latter to abide by the agreements it had willingly entered into with the teachers union. Now, it seems that history is again repeating itself. When the federal government signed a document saying that in relation to the just-ended strike that there would be no victimisation whatsoever, can it not be assumed that by that action it had waived its principle of no work no pay?
The principle of no work, no pay is a veritable tool of industrial relations designed to ensure the avoidance of wildcat strikes. Its implementation depends on the circumstances of the strike action. It is by its nature a punitive action. But it is in bad taste to seek to re-impose the principle after management had as part of a settlement in a collective agreement willingly overlooked this provision.
We call upon the Minister of Education to spare the nation another round of academic confusion by his late-hour insistence on the principle of no work no pay. Dr. Egwu must know that the country expects him to leave a legacy of service in the fast collapsing education sector. It should worry him that Nigerian children are recording 10 per cent pass in national exams. He should be calling on our best minds to find ways and means to shore up the education sector rather than constantly casting himself in the role of a warrior on an ego contest. As a university product, he should be advancing the autonomy of universities which should be empowered to set their conditions of service and emoluments as is the case abroad.
He should be seeking answers to the frequent strikes embarked upon by academics in Nigeria in contradistinction to the calm that exists in all other universities in Africa and elsewhere. He should be concerned that very little research is going on in our universities and that a country that once produced world class graduates is now in the bottom league of producers of half-baked graduates.
These are matters that should engage the minister. He should bear in mind that Nigerians will award him no marks for closing our universities yet again. Moreover withholding only August and September salaries makes no sense as that was not the duration of the strike. We call upon the minister to give peace a chance by quietly withdrawing the offensive circular.
