*Averting another ASUU mega strike*

*A week ago, the Academic Union of Nigerian Universities

(ASUU) served notice of its intention to embark on a one-

week warning strike with effect from Wednesday, 16th

November, 2016. Its President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi,

claimed that ASUU took the action after nationwide

consultations with the National Executive Committee (NEC) of

the Union, though the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige,

insisted the Federal Government (ASUU members' main

employer) was not notified.*

*ASUU said its leadership came under great pressure from its

members over pending issues such as the 2009 Collective

Bargaining Agreement and 2014 Memorandum of

Understanding, which were not properly implemented. These

cover the areas of proper funding of universities (which went

down to eight per cent in 2016 from 11 per cent in 2015,

despite the fact that this year's budget was significantly

higher at N6.06 Trillion compared to N4.4 Trillion of 2015);

unpaid pension to retiring members, complications from the

Treasury Single Account (TSA), the perennial issue of

university autonomy and the need to renegotiate the 2009

pact.*

*Coming barely one month into the new academic session

when the universities are just settling down to business, we

are apprehensive that if this matter is not amicably resolved

we might be in for another long haul of a full-blown strike

soon. ASUU and doctors' strikes are infamous for their

obdurate, prolonged stalemates.

There is no other part of the sane world where university

workers stop work almost on a yearly basis like Nigeria,

mainly because of the unwillingness or inability of successive

regimes to sit down and solve the problems of our universities

once and for all. This unfeeling attitude of decision makers to

the needs of our universities has often been attributed to the

fact that most of them educate their children in abroad and in

expensive local private tertiary institutions where the

academic environments are stable and sure.*

*The ASUU challenge presents an opportunity for the President

Muhammadu Buhari regime to prove itself as truly a regime

determined to change the ways that past governments

mishandled matters (such as agreements and MOU's with the

Labour Unions) by laying these contentious issues to rest

conclusively.*

*We also urge the university teachers and other Labour unions

to take cognisance of the fragile economic situation facing the

nation. We are struggling with a numbing recession which

requires the understanding of all patriotic Nigerians to ensure

we get out of it as soon as possible.

The Federal Government and the unions must eschew undue

brick-batting and address these issues without disrupting

academic activities. Prolonged standoffs are futile, since at

the end of the day, both sides will still come to some

agreement after great damage has already been done.‎*