The Academic Staff of Universities Union (ASUU) and the Federal Government of Nigeria are always in conflict over the funding of Nigerian Universities, better working condition among other ASUU demands.

Here’s the list of ASUU strike since 1999.

1. 1999 – five months

After the end of the military era in 1999, Nigerians ushered in democracy and a government that promised to be people-oriented. But it didn’t take long for Nigerian students to experience a disruption in their academic pursuit. Few months after the Obasanjo-Atiku administration was sworn-in, ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike and it lasted for five months.

2. 2001 – three months

In 2001, ASUU declared another strike over the reinstatement of 49 lecturers sacked at the University of Ilorin. The industrial action was aggravated when the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo described Nigerian university lecturers as “a bunch of lazy and ungrateful people” The strike was called off after three months.

Read more: ASUU Strikes: Why Nigerian Universities are always on strike

3. 2002 – two weeks

Having had an agreement with the Federal Government during the previous strike, the union was forced to embark on another industrial action on Sunday, December 29, 2002, after the Obasanjo administration failed to implement the agreement. The strike lasted for only two weeks.

4. 2003 – six months

In 2003, Nigerian university undergraduates had to stay at home again for six months as ASUU embarked on another industrial action due to the non-implementation of previous agreements, which covers poor university funding and disparity in salary and retirement age.

5. 2005 – two weeks

Nigerian university students again experienced another disruption in their academic calendars as university lecturers went on another industrial action. According to the Guardian,  the lecturers went on strike for just two weeks.

6. 2006 – one week

In April 2006 academic activities were paralyzed in all public universities across the country when  ASUU declared a 3-day warning strike. It eventually lasted for one week.

7. 2007 – three months

The 2006 industrial action was followed by another on March  26, 2007. The strike lasted for three months. The reasons for the strike were pretty much the same reasons for the previous strike.

8. 2008 – one week

In a bid to press home its demands, ASUU went on strike for one week in 2008. The demands included an improved salary scheme and reinstatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed at the University of Ilorin.

9. 2009 – four months

In 2009, lecturers in public universities across the country embarked on an industrial action that lasted for four months. The strike which started in June was called off in October. Before the strike was called off, the Federal Government and the union had an agreement. The 2009 ASUU/FG agreement would later become the reason for subsequent industrial action.

10. 2010 – five months

The year 2010 also saw another setback for Nigerian university undergraduates in their academics as ASUU embarked on another indefinite strike that lasted for over five months. The strike started on 22 July 2010 and was called off in January 2011.

ASUUstrike

11. 2011 – two months

Since the FG failed to honor its 2009 agreement to adequately fund universities in the country and implement the 70-year retirement age limit for ASUU members, the union again paralyzed academic activities nationwide in December 2011. The strike lasted for 59 days and was called off in 2012.

12. 2013 – five and a half months

Again, the government’s failure to review the retirement age for professors from 65 to 70; approve funding to revitalize the university system; increase the budgetary allocations to the education sector by 26% among other demands led to another industrial action.

The strike was embarked upon on July 1, 2013, called off on Tuesday, December 17, 2013. It lasted for five months, 15 days.

13. 2017 – one month

On August 17, 2017,  ASUU again declared an indefinite strike over unresolved and contentious issues with the Federal Government. The strike was called off in September.

14. 2018 – three months

Again, due to the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared an indefinite nationwide strike.

The union announced the strike on Sunday, November 4, 2018, after their National Executive Council meeting held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State. The strike was eventually called off on February 7, 2019.

15. 2020 – 9 months

Earlier in March this year, University lecturers embark on an indefinite strike to force the federal government to abandon Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), a salary payment platform that ASUU claims will diminish university autonomy.

ASUU announced it conditionally suspend the strike on 23 December 2020.

The post List of ASUU Strikes Since 1999 up to Date appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

ASUU has been on strike a combined 25 months in the last 10 years between 2010 and 2020.

The current round of strikes by the lecturers’ union is connected with a dispute over Integrated Payroll and Personnel System (IPPIS), a salary payment platform that ASUU claims the government wants to use to control university autonomy.

At the center of every ASUU strike, is always an issue connected with money – allowances that were not paid, and the demand for improved teaching and learning environments in Nigerian universities.

In 2009, lecturers in public universities across the country embarked on an industrial action that was only called off after the government agreed to revitalize public universities in the country and properly remunerate lecturers. The 2009 ASUU/FG agreement would later become the reason for subsequent strikes.

By July 2010, ASUU accused the government of not honoring their 2009 agreement and proceeded on a five months long industrial action.

Then again in 2011, that strike lasted for 59 days, and again in 2013 for another 5 months, in 2017 and 2018 for a month and three months respectively.

The latest round of strikes has been ongoing since March 2020, with no end in sight.

Read More: Five lessons from Nigeria’s #EdnSARS protests 

ASUU has always claimed that all these disruptions to the academic calendar are for the good of the students and the country at large.

In October, ASUU Chairman, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi said

“I believe our students and their parents would understand. If we have lecturers that have not been paid for eight, nine months, how can we have that person putting in their best in the system?”

The fact of the matter is it is the students who suffer the most. A four-year degree could take between 6-7 years to complete. Most students in Nigeria’s public universities graduate with an almost worthless degree which further starves the economy of much-needed skills to improve productivity.

An alternative source of funding Nigeria’s public universities

To understand a possible solution to the incessant strikes by ASUU, it is important to understand the root causes of the problem.

Nigeria is a poor country! And that means the government does not have enough money to properly fund education, health, build roads, and at the same time fight off an Islamist insurgency that is ravaging the country’s North-East.

The GDP of Nigeria was worth 448.10 billion US dollars in 2019, according to official data from the World Bank. A single American company – Apple is worth more than two trillion dollars!

The government heavily subsidizes public education in Nigeria, making essentially free.

A four-year degree costs on average less than one hundred dollars in tuition fees and accommodation per year.

These subsidies have allowed millions of poor Nigerians to get an education, and now alternative sources of funding are needed to keep the universities going.

In 2010, the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) started a jatropha plantation with the aim of one-day producing biofuel. Around the same time, the university also started other investment projects like building an event center, a zoological garden, and a water treatment plant.

All these investments were started with the vision of someday augmenting the revenue that the university gets from the federal government.

Another source of revenue and perhaps the most popular source of revenue for universities around the world is endowment funds.

University endowments are comprised of money or other financial assets that are donated to academic institutions. Charitable donations are the primary source of funds for endowments.

But for Nigerian universities to benefit from endowment funds, there needs to be accountability and transparency – two of the biggest issues every aspect of the Nigerian society has struggled with.

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