ASUU Strike: Time For Compliments and Analysis

The strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since July 01, 2013 will probably go down in history as the best ever well-organized action of the union.Although the action lasted longer than many Nigerians envisaged, it is to the credit of ASUU that it was fully ready for business. The union had in fact made it clear that only a complete resolution of the issues at stake would bring the strike to an end. Hence, it was also ready for any eventuality. Consequently, when the government introduced the 'no work, no pay' rule into the game, the union responded by resorting to providing other welfare strategies such as distributing food items, giving out soft loans and cash advances to members to cope with the effects of the policy.In all, ASUU lived up to its billing, making it obvious that it had sufficient courage and a unity of direction to pursue its goal. Thus, the Dr. Nasir Fagge led National Executive of the union deserves to be commended for its tenacity-a posture which the government itself was to eventually describe as their "patriotic role and commitment towards ensuring that our universities are well-funded, resourced and run like their counterparts in other parts of the world". However, ASUU alone cannot grab all the credit. Also to be praised, are the interests groups which for the first time in history mobilized for the cause of the teachers, ample public sympathy and support.What looked like the first impetus came from the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), which condemned the government for reneging on an agreement it willingly entered into with ASUU, adding that what the lecturers were asking for was not"new and out of place'' The position of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) was that it would "not hesitate to shut down the educationsystem in the country, if the government failed to fulfil or honour the agreement it entered into with the lecturers". On its part, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) threatened to stop distribution of petroleum products across the country if the Federal Government failed to implement the agreement reached with ASUU. Their counterparts at the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) gave the Federal Government seven days to resolve the ASUU strike or face a total shutdown of electricity facilities in the country. All these were averted, but they cannot be wished away by anyone seeking to identify what helped the strike to last longer than usual.The role which the posture of government officials played in prolonging the strike can also not be overlooked. It was them again who created room for another breakdown of negotiations after the President had himself personally intervened to resolve the crisis. What happened was that instead of documenting the issues faithfully as discussedand agreed upon with the President to ease implementation, they as usual, introduced theircharacteristic double-speak otherwise known as 'mago- mago' which led to a fresh out-break of hostilities. This confirmed the old allegation that advisers and small men in the corridors of power in a bid to display loyalty to the political masters always fuel the gap between government and the people. If the death of foremost unionist, Festus Iyayi on a journey to attend a meeting of the national executive of ASUU on the subject worsened the situation, the threat of the Minister of Educationto the university teachers to resume work on December 04, 2013 or be sacked, completely disorganized the nation.However, after five months and 10 days of an annual cat and rat game, government and ASUU finally signed an agreement to end the strike a few days ago. With that, Nigerians can now look forward with hope to an end to the ugly incidents of disruption to the nation's yearly academic calendar